Longtime Jeffersonville cafe losing its lease

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Tim Harris

Perkfection Cafe, at 319 Spring St., has been a staple of the downtown Jeffersonville landscape for about eight years.

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Caitlin Bowling

Reporter- Louisville Business First

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A staple of Jeffersonville's downtown will stop offering food service in two weeks.

Perkfection Cafe has occupied 319 Spring St. for about eight years, but as of Tuesday, Nov. 11, it will stop serving food and sell only coffee — and it is unclear how long Perkfection will continue doing that.

On its door, the cafe owners posted a sign that reads: "LOST OUR LEASE. The owner does not want a restaurant in her building."

Perkfection co-owner Nathan Todaro said he does not know how long the business will operate in that space as simply a coffee shop, and he is skeptical that coffee sales alone will sustain the business.

"I don't know how much of our coffee is overflow from our food and vice-versa," Todaro said.

The company's lease is not up until Jan. 31, and the business could operate on a month-to-month lease after that.

"Nobody is knocking on your doors, trying to put retail stores in," Todaro said.

Property owner Rita Fleming said she has heard from several other restaurant concepts that want to move into the location, but she wants to find a retailer to open in the 2,954-square-foot space. She also plans to offer two offices for lease on the second floor of the building.

"I'm going in a different direction with the building. The building was never designed to be a restaurant," she said. "They are just very hard on an old building. The venting is difficult in an old building."

Fleming acquired the property in 2001, according to Clark County property records.

David Mosley, an attorney whose offices are on Spring Street, is a frequent visitor to Perkfection. Despite having a coffeemaker in his office, Mosley said, he typically heads down to the cafe once a day to grab a cup of joe and see who has congregated there.

Caitlin Bowling covers these beats: Restaurants, retail, human resources, and women & minority affairs.