{"id":68915,"date":"2026-05-20T11:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/68915\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:31:40","slug":"parking-lot-next-to-simple-cafe-closes-as-cafe-owner-turns-down-lease-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/68915\/","title":{"rendered":"Parking lot next to Simple Cafe closes as cafe owner turns down lease increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKE GENEVA \u2014 Simple Cafe used to lease the parking lot next to its restaurant for $700 a month. The lot is now closed after its new owner increased the lease price to $8,000 a month.<\/p>\n

\"lake<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

A parking lot in downtown Lake Geneva was fenced off by its new owners.<\/p>\n

“Shoot, I have to pay for parking now?” said Simple Cafe customer Julie Grant when she came across the fenced-off lot. “I thought maybe I could go a different way around or something. I didn’t realize this wasn’t open anymore.”<\/p>\n

\"julie<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

Simple Cafe customer Julie Grant.<\/p>\n

The parking lot formerly owned by Town Bank was sold to Robert Jeffreys 18 LLC last month for $1 million, according to real estate records.<\/p>\n

\"lake<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

A parking lot in downtown Lake Geneva was fenced off by its new owners.<\/p>\n

Simple Cafe owner Young Cho says he sat down with the new owner to negotiate a price. However, Cho said their ask of $8,000 per month was far beyond the restaurant’s price range.<\/p>\n

\"young<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

Simple Cafe co-owner Young Cho.<\/p>\n

“I asked them, ‘Is this monthly or is this yearly?'” Cho said. “They had talked about wanting to be great neighbors and all of the rhetoric, then the next day after we talked, fences went up.”<\/p>\n

Cho and Simple Cafe explained the situation from their perspective with a note posted throughout the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"simple<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

A note posted to Simple Cafe customers after its adjoining parking lot was fenced off.<\/p>\n

TMJ4 contacted Jeffrey Leeson, the point-of-contact for the parking lot’s new owners, to learn their reasons for the closure.<\/p>\n

In a text message, Leeson said:<\/p>\n

“Town Bank had provided virtually free parking for the restaurant since 2011. The request was to have 38 parking spaces at 61 cents per day.<\/p>\n

It was impossible for us to provide that amount of real estate as a gift to the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Our request was to provide space for the restaurant to have parking at a rate of seven dollars a day per parking stall.<\/p>\n

We met one time briefly with the owner. They said, ‘No, thank you.’ There was no counter offer or any further discussion to reach a solution.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Jeffrey Leeson, Robert Jeffreys 18 LLC<\/p>\n

The new owners hope to build 20 condominiums on the parking lot site. They approached Lake Geneva’s Plan Commission with their proposal last August<\/a>, which included a sketch of how the housing could look.<\/p>\n

\"possible<\/p>\n

TMJ4\/City of Lake Geneva<\/p>\n

A blueprint showing the proposed layout for condominiums in downtown Lake Geneva.<\/p>\n

Cho said the Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home is now providing free parking to Simple Cafe staff members and customers.<\/p>\n

Grant wonders how Simple Cafe customers will find a place to park when the restaurant’s busy season gets underway.<\/p>\n

\"simple<\/p>\n

TMJ4<\/p>\n

The patio of Simple Cafe as seen through the newly-erected fencing on its neighboring parking lot.<\/p>\n

“Parking will be an issue for people,” Grant said. “They’re going to have to go way down the block, circle around, or not come.”<\/p>\n

Let’s talk:<\/p>\n

Hey there! At TMJ4 News, we’re all about listening to our audience and tackling the stuff that really matters to you. Got a story idea, tip, or just want to chat about this piece? Hit us up using the form below. For more ways to get in touch, head over to tmj4.com\/tips. <\/p>\n

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Report a typo or error<\/a> \/\/ Submit a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE GENEVA \u2014 Simple Cafe used to lease the parking lot next to its restaurant for $700 a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[2115,5592,35,65,2117,4620,37100],"class_list":["post-68915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-development","tag-downtown","tag-food","tag-geneva","tag-lake-geneva","tag-parking","tag-simple-cafe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116606683556076165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}