After a dispute with MonOrchid, Songbird Coffee and Tea House will move to a new location on Third Street near the end of March.
The decision was made following disagreements between Jonathan Carroll, the general manager of Songbird and Wayne Rainey, the landlord of MonOrchid.
After Songbird’s three-year lease, which was signed in March 2012, ended about four months ago, Songbird wanted to renew the contract to stay at this location. However, it hit a dead end.
“We started negotiating and it didn’t go anywhere, and unfortunately the landlord wouldn’t give into anything that we wanted as part of a new lease,” Carroll said.
Large events like wedding receptions are frequently held at MonOrchid, so smaller affairs such as acoustic performances that Songbird booked would be cancelled because the space was already rented out.
Because Songbird is one of the multiple tenants of MonOrchid, it is required to close whenever the gallery schedules any events.
“We also don’t have a lot of freedoms here,” Carroll said. “I didn’t want to have to call musicians and say you’re cancelled, it’s not my fault. Then it looks like it is my fault, and that’s a negative on us.”
On Aug. 11 and 14 of last year, Ashton Brown, the general manager of MonOrchid, sent out emails with the proposal for Songbird to sign a new lease.
The email also asked Carroll to reply with a list of what Songbird would request in the new lease so that Rainey could respond with his own conditions and they could come to a compromise. Songbird asked for things such as expanding the area that Songbird occupies.
Songbird received an email soon after, but it was not the one it expected. It was written by the landlord’s attorney and stated that Rainey would not be negotiating anything at all.
“I’m sure running a tea house is very difficult and that it’s not for everyone, so I sympathize with them not being able to make it here,” Rainey said. “But issues and complaints from other occupants in the building combined with a refusal to do catering or even be open for our events made it impossible for us to offer any further financial assistance.”
Rainey said he had seen this time coming and he interviewed other businesses for over two years to offer one of those patrons this space.
The whole space will be remodeled, and a new business will soon be opening up in Songbird’s place. Various foods and drinks will be served there and on a new patio that is scheduled to be built as well.
“I was very saddened that I had made a mistake about them,” Rainey said. “I really did think they would be successful here, so I was very disappointed in this whole ordeal.”
Nevertheless, Carroll said he likes the house that Songbird is re-locating to a lot more. The place, built in 1904, contains the original floors and is roughly 250 square feet larger, he said.
There is also an outdoor patio out in the front yard where Carroll hopes to even hold acoustic shows.
“We’ll be sad to leave here but this is our design,” Carroll said. “It’s not like we can’t do the same thing in the house.”
Dixie Cook has owned the house for over 20 years, and despite construction companies making attempts to demolish it, she has made sure to preserve it for all these years.
“It’s one of the few standing historic houses in the area,” Cook said.
Carroll emphasized that the clientele is what Songbird values most because they are the ones who truly led them to become one of the best coffeehouses in Arizona.
“It’s just a new chapter,” Carroll said. “Our clientele is going to follow us, we’re a tenth of a mile away from here. We’re going to have a lot more freedoms to do what we want to do.”
Contact the reporter at Oren.Simchy-Gross@asu.edu
