POLL: Tacoma Couple Will Bring Frog N Kiwi Cafe To Town Center

Like other parents, Marc and Kelly Grau find that options for indoor, family friendly activities in the South Sound can be slim, particularly when it rains.

On Monday night, the Tacoma couple inked a deal with the City of University Place that will give their two children, Levi, 5, and Ruby, 2, as well as families in the area a place to play, no matter the weather.

The University Place City Council approved a five-year, $800-a-month lease with the Graus that allows them to operate a family oriented café in the south retail unit of Civic Building, which shares the same indoor plaza as the .

The couple plans to open the Frog N Kiwi Café – a spot where customers will be able to pick up an espresso, smoothie, sandwich and other goodies. It will also offer a sound-proof area with a 20-foot-wide, 6- to 7-foot-tall play structure that kids can use for a fee.

If things go as planned, the couple says the café’s doors will open February, making the Frog N Kiwi Café the mixed-use development’s first retail tenant.

Marc Grau, a marketing manager for an IT company, told UP leaders that although it wasn’t the couple’s original intent, they realize that the Frog N Kiwi Café will serve as a retail “pioneer” in Town Center, whose progress in securing a retail tenant over much of the past decade has grown increasingly frustrating for the community.

The couple says it has done its homework. Visitors to the University Place Library might have caught Marc Grau counting the number of visitor over the last few months.

After studying the location since late last year – and watching more families gradually frequent the library - he and his wife realized it was time to realize their dream.

“The library proved to us it was the right choice,” he told Patch.

The mix of a café with a large family friendly play area will be unique to the South Sound, the new owners say.

As for being the project’s retail pioneer – something Applebee’s, Talbots and Coldwater Creek , Town Center’s previous potential tenants, chose not to become – he said, “it’s good and scary at the same time.”

For city officials, they said the fact that a local couple wants to start unique business follows UP’s original vision of a downtown area that can attract customers from the community and beyond.

“I can see this as a huge sanity saver for a lot of parents,” Mayor Debbie Klosowski said.

Here are terms of the lease, according to City Attorney Steve Victor:

- $800-a-month lease. It initially runs five years, and the owners have the option to renew twice afterward for 15 years total.

- The owners will pay almost $16,500 annually, or $6 per square foot for more than 2,700 square feet, for common expenses within the building and Town Center.

- After the first three months, the owners will pay the city 6 percent of its total gross sales.

- The city will pay $35,000 for improve the currently unfinished space, while the owners will pay for other improvements to the space that will total more than $100,00.

City officials said the deal was a good thing for both sides. Councilman Ken Grassi said the café was “worth waiting seven years for.”

Among the unique aspects of the future café, Marc Grau says its name is one of them.

“Frog” is a tongue-and-cheek term often used to describe French people and pays tribute to his heritage, he said.

“Kiwi” is often used to describe people from New Zealand, which Kelly Grau is from.

Names aside, a rather large component of the Frog N Kiwi Cafe will be the 1,700-square-foot play area, which will feature a wooden play structure that measures about 20 feet wide and 6 feet tall, the couple says. They haven’t decided on the fee stlructure yet.

The fact that the play area will be sound proof means parents and non-parents will be able to enjoy the Frog N Kiwi Café at the same time.

Officials say that although the café is not a large anchor tenant, it’s unique and could be successful enough to attract other business to Town Center.

UP Signs Agreement For Mixed-Use Building

News of the café came after the University Place City Council unanimously voted on a to build a five-story building that will feature 100 apartment units south of the Civic Building.

The $15 million project will offer retail units on the street level.

The developer will pay $800,000 to city for the rights to build on top of the "Lot 8" garage, which the city would still own.

According to the agreement, $250,000 of the cash would go to the parks capital improvement.

Also, under the agreement, the developer will pay $1.5 million in work remaining on the Lot 8 garage.

Here are some other details of the proposed agreement:

- The developer is required to construct a mixed-use project with commercial space on the ground floor as mandated by the city’s regulations and 100 units of market rate apartments. This will result in a general increase in activity in Town Center as well the development of approximately 12,000 square feet of new leasable commercial space, according to City Attorney Steve Victor.

- It requies the developer to conduct feasibility and title review in 20 days, to complete design and file a complete permit application for the project within 90 days of the review period, and close within 20 days of issuance of the development permits by the city. The developer must complete construction of the project within a year of closing, or the city’s sufficient completion of the Lot 8 garage interior improvements.

Officials were hesitant to celebrate the signing, given Town Center's history of developers backing out before completion.

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