Icons for Sale: 302 West Looking For a Buyer After 4 Years

• Editor's note: This is the third of a multipart summer series by Tara Knott and Garrett Lance looking at the iconic Geneva buildings for sale and what they mean for Geneva's long-term development. See the series intro .

When real estate agent Tony Stefancic steps into the empty building on the corner of Third and State Street, he doesn’t remember it as a realtor—he remembers it as a customer.

“It was a restaurant that I frequented,” Stefancic, an agent for RE/MAX Suburban, said of the former home of 302 West and Tuscana.  “I thought the business that was in it was attractive.”

Little did Stefancic know, a few years later, he’d be looking for businesses to replace the acclaimed restaurant. 

The building, a 7,526-square-foot structure, has an asking price of $1.9 million, but Stefancic said the lease price is what’s been attracting potential tenants. 

“Any restaurateur looks at a restaurant and says, ‘Let me keep my rent under $10,000 a month, and I am happy,’” said Stefancic, who’s agreed with the building’s owner to lease the space for $8,500 a month.  “It’s an excellent deal.”

So far, Stefancic said, “we have people that are very much interested, doing lots of work trying to move forward, but no total commitment deal has been made yet.  I don’t have anything in ink.” 

Potential tenants have to be willing to invest not just money, but a significant amount of time into the building. 

“Look at it this way: The building has sat vacant for about four years, OK?” Stefancic said.  “It is not what people may consider to be a turnkey restaurant — in other words, the kitchen equipment needs to be replaced, the kitchen basically needs to be gutted, and the owner is willing to work with any … potential prospective tenant to do the repairs necessary to the kitchen to satisfy the county Health Department.” 

Stefancic said the amount of remodeling is not unusual for a historic property such as this one, which was built in 1924 as a state bank before Joel Findlay bought it out and converted into the upscale restaurant 302 West. 

After Findlay’s death in 2004, the restaurant changed faces again and was reopened by Jim Ginger, who opened the restaurant named Tuscana. That venture closed its doors less than a year later, and the property has remained vacant since.

Given its history, said Stefancic, the building’s in decent shape.

“The roof is solid, there had been a new boiler put in about two years ago, the HVAC is solid. When Tuscana was there, they had created a bar in the basement.  That is probably a very interesting scenario for someone who’s looking for a restaurant venue with a party room,” he said.

The city also hopes to continue using the property as an upscale restaurant, said Stefancic.  To sweeten the deal for potential tenants, city officials have offered to “try to do some tax abatement, which they have offered to all restaurants in that area to attract entrepreneurs to the area,” he said.

But the diners themselves need no enticement to visit the restaurant, Stefancic said.  “People remember it.  That’s what I’ve found.  I’ve had a tremendous amount of people call to say, ‘When is it going to open again?  Will there ever be another 302 West?’”