Kelly Brown, owner of the Natural Café, notified his landlord, Jim Knell of SIMA Corporation, that as of this coming March he’ll be pulling the plug on his restaurant on the 500 block of State Street after 30 years.
Both Brown and Knell have been notably outspoken members of the business community in expressing their frustration with City Hall and the state of State Street. Brown was especially so in explaining his decision to turn out the lights on his downtown digs in a missive to Knell earlier this week.
Brown’s lease expires at the end of March. In his letter , Brown commented that the location — on a stretch of State Street known alternately as “the fun zone” or “the drunk and disorderly zone” for its crowded bars and rambunctious street scene — had always been challenging, adding, “Things have taken an extreme turn for the worst the last few years.”