Once a downtown hotspot, 515 Kitchen & Cocktails for sale amid construction challenges

Once the site of cocktails named after pop culture references, moody candle-lit tables and downtown Santa Cruz’s only rooftop lounge, the former 515 Kitchen & Cocktails has been under construction for more than three years. Now, the building is for sale.

The popular bar and restaurant at 515 Cedar St. closed in early 2022 so the building could be remodeled. But after an initial partial demolition, there has been little movement at the property, at least from the outside looking in. Large portions are unfinished and covered in weatherproof plastic with siding open to the elements. Parts of the roof, upstairs patio and Cedar Street facade are exposed. 

The 2,256-square-foot space is listed on real estate website LoopNet for $995,000. The liquor license is also available at an additional cost. 

After three years, major structural issues were uncovered during what was expected to be a minor renovation of the building, and skyrocketing construction costs finally led owner Germaine Akin to throw in the towel. Initially, she was just trying to repair the leaking dining room roof, she said, but additional requirements from the city made finishing construction financially impossible. “Every step of the way has expanded what the city is demanding. The final nail for me was when they wanted to have work done on the entire building foundation,” she said in an email to Lookout. 

Akin is a property owner and restaurateur, and a longstanding figure in Santa Cruz’s food and beverage industry. She also owns the historic building at the corner of Cedar Street and Locust Street that’s home to The Redroom Cocktail Lounge, Fusion Fare and Monaco Night Club, and has opened and closed several other restaurants in the Santa Cruz area. Akin and a business partner installed the rotating bar at the former Splash! on Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf; it closed in January 2020 and is now Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery. 

The initial work at 515 Cedar St. to fix the leaky roof revealed significant rot, decay and other structural issues after demolition began, said Larry Riordan, a chief building official at the city, in an email. Because the part of the roof that needed to be fixed also acted as a deck and seating area, it needed to meet current safety standards. As work progressed, the contractor and structural engineer discovered more problems with the aging building, particularly with the foundation, which they felt posed a serious safety risk in the event of an earthquake. “Given the age of the building, constructed in the late 1800s, deterioration over time is not uncommon,” Riordan said. 

He denied that the city required improvements beyond what was necessary to meet state building standards. “Our role is to ensure that any work performed results in a code-compliant, safe structure for current and future occupants,” Riordan said.

Mounting construction costs for necessary updates to aging buildings is an issue that plagues many buildings in the downtown area. Several business and property owners cited it as a major reason for yearslong vacancies in some high-profile storefronts. These spaces need crucial upgrades to bring them up to code before they can be occupied, but construction costs have skyrocketed since the pandemic. The price of new construction has jumped 40% since 2020 due to increased costs of materials such as steel and wood, and new tariffs are likely to push them even higher, leaving both property owners and potential tenants hesitant or unable to make expensive renovations. 

The new owner of the former 515 will have to resolve the issues with the building before reopening the space as a restaurant. Real estate broker Chris Shoemaker of Shoemaker Commercial Real Estate did not respond to questions about the listing, including the approximate costs of necessary repairs before the building can be occupied, or whether it is being marketed for any other purpose. 

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