Pacific Place owner Swire Properties has confirmed that it is terminating the lease of Italian restaurant Grappa’s Ristorante Admiralty, hot on the heels of news that family diner Dan Ryan’s is leaving the shopping centre next month after a 27-year tenure.
Swire says Grappa’s management, El Grande Concepts, was offered a chance to submit proposals for a new concept in its current space or elsewhere in the mall, but declined to do so. It has also been invited to relocate to a “nearby” Swire property.
When it closes in July, the space will be taken over by restaurant group Dining Concepts, which brought Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants to Hong Kong, as well as Belgian chain Le Pain Quotidien to Greater China.
As Swire tries to boost is sagging retail and tourism numbers, it has been replacing tenants to introduce new concepts.
Hong Kong-based lawyer Jonathan Midgley spearheaded a Facebook campaign called “Save Grappa’s”, which gained more than 1000 followers in the past two weeks.
“There are going to be a lot of very disappointed people,” says Midgley of Swire’s confirmation of Grappa’s closure after 26 years in Pacific Place.