[Source: Mike Padgett, Phoenix Business Journal] -- The owner of trendy restaurants in Scottsdale, Wisconsin, and Manhattan plans to carve an upscale restaurant out of the vacant Hanny's building in downtown Phoenix. Karl Kopp, owner of the popular AZ88 in Scottsdale, is trading his 12,000-square-foot parcel at 424 N. Central Ave. to the city in return for the 7,000-square-foot Hanny's building at the southwest corner of Second and Adams streets. The Hanny's building has been vacant for many years, and Phoenix wants Kopp's property on Central for part of the future campus of Arizona State University. City records show an agreement, approved in late September, which settles a condemnation case started by the city to acquire property for the ASU campus. The agreement requires Kopp's company -- 424 N. Central Ave. LLC -- to rehabilitate the Hanny's building based on the city's Historic Preservation Office requirements.Kopp, who also owns Elsa's on the Park in Milwaukee and Bar 89 in Manhattan, has been interested in opening a downtown Phoenix restaurant for years. He was traveling in Europe this week visiting restaurants for ideas and could not be reached for comment. "He goes all over the world looking for cool ideas," said Grady Gammage Jr., Kopp's attorney.
Gammage, who inspected the Hanny's building with Kopp, credited Mayor Phil Gordon with the idea of the property trade. The Hanny's building was the headquarters for a clothing company, which at one time also had outlets in several shopping malls. The building, considered prime real estate because it is in the middle of downtown, has a full basement, a two-story first floor with a mezzanine and an outdoor roof patio... [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
