Ivar’s Seafood Bar Ballard (6000 15th Ave NW) will be closing for good this Sunday, April 13. The Ballard landmark is closing after being unable to come to a lease renewal agreement with the building’s landlord.
Check out the statement below from Ivar’s Management regarding the closure:
The Ballard Seafood Bar is closing at the end of business on Sunday, April 13. After many attempts to stay at this location and renew the lease, Ivar’s was unable to come to an agreement with the building’s landlord.
Ivar’s thanks its many fans for their loyal patronage over the years, and is directing customers to nearby locations, including the Pier 54 Fish Bar, Salmon House Fish Bar, Northgate Mall and Aurora.
Ivar’s Seafood Bars is a growing, local chain and it wants to re-open to the Ballard community as soon as it finds the right location in the coming years.
The Ballard Ivar’s location opened in 1980 and has been a landmark in the local community through an intense period of growth and change.
Ivar’s employee and local resident Sara Ducharme was sad to hear that the location was closing. “I grew up in Magnolia/Ballard and this Ivars is just another place on the list of places that we loved going to as kids. We are losing all of the major landmarks to gentrification and it is very sad,” says Ducharme.
According to Ducharme, staff were notified about the closure at the beginning of March, with the date then set for March 30th. Signs were put up and subsequently quickly taken down due to the closure date being changed. “The last I heard was the end of April, that was until I saw the notice yesterday that the new date is now this Sunday,” says Ducharme.
Ducharme reports that staff have been promised positions elsewhere, but she has not had a chance to speak to the management about it as of yet.
“We just plain and simply lost our lease, due to not enough business and rent increases. Probably much like what happened to Azteca,” says Ducharme.
This closure is yet another to add to the list of long-term Ballard businesses (Azteca, Great Harvest Bread Co., Savour and B&O Espresso) that have been forced to permanently close their doors this year.
Ivar’s will be open before the closure from 10:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. – 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 10:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of Sara Ducharme.
Isn’t this playing a bit fast and loose with the word “landmark”?? This building looks just like any other fast food restaurant. The Taco Bell down the block is more architecturally distinct. I could see calling the Dick’s on Holman or the Red Mill/Totem House a “landmark” but not this. i also think it’s a bit of hyperbole to call Savour and B&O “long-term Ballard businesses”. Savour was only around for less than 5 years. B&O was only in Ballard for 2 years. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked both of these places and hate to see them close. Ivar’s seemed like just another fried fish place but I know it’s a local institution so I can see how some people would be nostalgic for it. Azteca I completely don’t get. Truly mediocre food. Also if these places were the great landmarks people make them out to be they would have had enough business to keep the doors open or to find a new place. Not like there’s a shortage of commercial spaces in Ballard. All the times I went past Ivar’s I don’t think I ever saw more than 1-2 cars parked in the lot. I also don’t… Read more »