James North restaurant Mex-I-Can forced to close its doors Sunday
Hamilton Spectator By Molly Hayes
James North's favourite 'resortaurant' will host its last supper Sunday.
Family-run Mex-I-Can is closing down this weekend, and the building — at 107 James St. N. — is potentially coming down.
Property co-owner Mark Milne says demolition wasn't their plan when he and seven partners bought the building back in late 2013. They still don't know for sure if demolition is required, as they are awaiting an inspection report from engineers they expect to receive Monday.
The building is part of a stretch of that block (from 95-109 James. St. N.) owned by the group — which includes record company Sonic Unyon co-owners Tim Potocic and Milne.
Milne says when they bought the buildings just over a year ago they had a "frank discussion" with the restaurant owners about the shape of the aging one-storey building — and that they were well aware there were problems with the aging space.
Last week, concerned about unexpected problems they discovered through their renovations on the neighbouring properties, Milne says they called in engineers to inspect the structure.
"We've been talking about this for a long time … when we first bought the building they knew the building would need extensive repairs … now the time has come," Milne says.
He wouldn't say if the building presents any safety concerns for the restaurant or the public.
Veronica Sanchez, head chef at Mex-I-Can said she and her staff are "very surprised and very sad and worried" about the impending closure.
"It was out of the blue, it was a surprise for everybody. I mean, it's a huge bomb … usually you give a person two weeks' notice, but it was just out of the blue," she said Friday.
"It's overwhelming."
After Sunday — without a new location — she says they are all out of a job.
"I can't even call them our staff, we're like a family … we have a team and it's so sad because it's very difficult in any business to have a team how we had. And all of a sudden it's just broken," she says.
"Imagine how they feel. They still have to pay their bills just like us, but they don't have a job now."
Milne says he and his partners have been calling around to help the restaurant find a new location.
Sanchez says they hope to start a crowd-funding campaign to help with the relaunch.
But right now she says they all feel too "numb" to think about that — on top of the sudden closure, the restaurant is also participating in the Food and Drink show this weekend.
Milne says he feels for the Mex-I-Can team, whom he described as "good souls."
He is hopeful they'll find a new location for the restaurant and that the community will rally around them.
"I hope what is a bad news story now will turn out to be a good news story down the line," he says.
mhayes@thespec.com
905-526-3214 | @MollyatTheSpec
Prev
Linear Mode
