The First Victim of the Fry Street Renovations

UNTLifer · August 10, 2006

Mr. Chopsticks is moving on

07:34 AM CDT on Thursday, August 10, 2006

By Dawn Cobb / Business Editor

Last Saturday was one of the worst days Numchai Tamprateep can remember.

The owner of Mr. Chopsticks, a longtime favorite among Denton residents, will soon be closing its doors on Hickory Street and moving temporarily to another location on Scripture Street. The move follows an eviction notice received by fax last Thursday and by certified letter on Saturday detailing the need to vacate the 1120 W. Hickory St. location in 30 days, Tamprateep said.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It was the worst day of my life.”

DRC/Al Key

Mr. Chopsticks owner Numchai Tamprateep says his business will soon be closing its doors on Hickory Street and moving temporarily to Scripture Street.

The eviction notice was one of two sent by Houston-area developer Buster Freedman in a move to start on the project for the property he bought in early May.

“It is correct that we are moving forward with our project and have asked Cool Beans and Mr. Chopsticks to vacate their premises so that we may gather additional construction and engineering data necessary to move forward with our plans,” Freedman wrote in an e-mail response to a telephone query.

Part of Cool Beans at 1210 W. Hickory St. will need to be closed within a 30-day period. Half of the nightclub’s building was part of the recent purchase by Freedman. The remaining half will stay under current ownership and remain open, the owners have said.

“While it may not [be] obvious to the public, the fact is that we only purchased a portion of the Cool Beans building and they still have a lease on the majority of the space they currently occupy,” Freedman wrote. “In conversations with their landlord, we were informed they have many years remaining on their lease and intend to stay open for business. We also understand that they own businesses and property across the street that they may relocate to in the future.

“We are continuing to work with the remaining tenants with the intention of offering them the opportunity to stay on Fry Street in a new or renovated facility and bring other retailers that will benefit their business and the neighborhood,” Freedman wrote.

The last taste of Asian cuisine at Mr. Chopsticks’ current Hickory Street location will be on Sept. 1 before Tamprateep closes it to make the move in time.

“I don’t know how you can do it in 30 days,” Tamprateep said. “If you live in a house or apartment, it’s OK, but a business? I don’t know how it’s going to happen.”

Tamprateep said he believed he had until Sept. 5 to vacate the premises, though he is asking for an extension to Sept. 15.

Tamprateep talked with Freedman several times, asking for suggested rent costs, he said. He was told it would be about $7,300 per month or so at the proposed new development once it was completed.

“But I can’t see $7,300 a month. That’s a $6,000 increase over what I’m doing now. I can see two or three times [the current rate],” Tamprateep said.

He plans to relocate Mr. Chopsticks inside of his second restaurant, Quick Stir, at 1633 Scripture St. for a while before readying a new location for his restaurant at the property he bought at 1115-1117 W. Hickory St. — almost directly across from his current location.

Tamprateep bought the older three-bedroom, two-bath house and adjacent residential lot about a month ago to have something near the University of North Texas campus, he said. The price of the house was not disclosed, though Denton Central Appraisal District listed a 2006 total assessed value for the property at $96,538.

“Our hope was to keep Mr. Chopsticks as a tenant in our project and have had numerous conversations with Mr. Tamprateep in an attempt to keep him open and relocate him to a renovated building within our project,” Freedman wrote. “We were disappointed to learn last month that he purchased another restaurant in the area and he informed us that he was going to relocate his business to that property.”

Margaret Johnston, who owns Elm Street Antiques, is the current resident of the house. She said she was approached by Tamprateep last month to buy her home.

“He knocked on my door and told me, ‘I want to buy your house,’” she said.

Johnston said the home was her mother’s home for a number of years.

“I cried a lot and prayed a lot,” she said. “I believe if we give things a little time, we’re guided in the direction we ought to go and that’s what happened to me.”

Since the sale, Johnston said she has felt good about her decision though saddened by the prospect of leaving memories.

“A lot more people than I realize say Mr. Chopsticks is a good place to eat,” she said.

The sale was made with a few conditions, she said, adding that she is in the process of finding another place to live with the help of her business partners, Mike Pennington and John Bennett.

“I’ve lived there since 1974,” she said. “I like the old house, liked the idea of students walking back and forth. You don’t really feel alone out there.”

She plans to move in early November, leaving behind the large oak tree in the front yard where her mother had a photograph portrait made and the remains of a beloved dog, Lucy.

Keeping both areas intact is part of the conditions of the sale, she said.

Since her home was bought, Johnston said she has come to know Tamprateep better.

“Mr. Chopsticks” — as she refers to Tamprateep — “is very concerned about my wellbeing and feelings,” she said. “I feel like he is very fair and very honest with me.”

Asked if she had been to the restaurant, Johnston said the cuisine had actually come to her.

Last weekend, during an estate sale at her mother’s former home, she was surprised with a special delivery — tea and an array of fresh entrees free from Mr. Chopsticks across the street.