A Ballard icon abruptly closed its doors last week. The Yankee Grill a family-style restaurant on Shilshole Avenue that served as one of the few large catering facilities in downtown Ballard, was permanently shut down by its owners on Monday, April 3rd.

The restaurant is owned by the Spectra Group of Great Restaurants, a Vancouver B.C. based company. Peter Bonner, the chief executive of Spectra Group, said the decision was purely economics.

"Our lease on the property is due to expire next year, so with that reality, and with the reality that the whole world is now aware the restaurant's days are numbered, we closed the business."

Bonner said the restaurant already struggled to make a profit, under an onerous lease arrangement on the property. When signage went up next to the entrance of the restaurant, notifying the public of pending construction next door, Bonner said business shrank further.

The sign, produced by the city's Department of Planning and Development to notify the public about a development project, briefly describes the project for constructing a six-story hotel on the adjoining property. The signage also refers to the restaurant staying open during the development, but Bonner said the perception was that the restaurant was soon to close.

"The sign made it untenable to run the business, and made it impossible to hire staff on a short notice," he said.

Short notice about the restaurant's closure left Shirley Holmes scrambling. The Magnolia resident was among the Seattle Ramblers committee members putting together the annual banquet for the Pacific Northwest football hall of fame. She heard of the closure from another committee member - after flyers for the April 29 event had already been sent - who had been contacted by a caterer suggesting a change in venues to the Yankee Grill in Renton.

The banquet, began in 1990, typically draws almost a hundred people, pro sports inductees and celebrity Emcees. Holmes said the banquet would survive the abrupt change, but was disappointed that the restaurant would be gone for good.

"That's will be a real shocker for a lot of people," Holmes said.

One Yankee Grill employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the abrupt closure of the facility was unusual. Bonner said the company tried not to leave customers in the lurch:

"We've contacted, to my knowledge, virtually everybody that's had a reservation or contract and either made some other arrangements . Were not leaving people high and dry, that's for sure," Bonner said.

The Yankee Grill has been in business since the mid-70s. Originally called "The Canal", its name was changed with new ownership in 1992, to "The Yankee Diner."

In 1994 the Spectra Group purchased the company and changed its name to Yankee Grill in 1997. It was eventually sold to, and back from, John Mitzel. Mitzel, a local restaurateur who previously owned a chain of restaurants branded under his own name, around the Puget Sound area, said that keeping customers coming though the doors in the eatery was difficult, especially as tastes changed.

"Ballard used to be this kind of sleepy, mid-America, grandma and all that. But the market is seeing accelerated change. How many restaurants are opening on Ballard Avenue," he said.

Mitzel said eatery style restaurant, especially chains, though successful in the suburbs, couldn't compete with neighborhood restaurants in the city; the small establishments offering specialized, often ethnic menus. By contrast, the Yankee Grill served large dollops of comfort food; turkey dinners with gravy and potatoes being one of the most popular.