Two downtown Windsor staples to relocate, citing soaring rents

Windsor’s downtown will lose two nightlife staples later this year, as Phog Lounge and Craft Heads Brewing Company both look to relocate.

Phog owner Tom Lucier has spoken many times about the trials and tribulations of owning an establishment in the core these days – from broken windows to burglaries.

However, speaking on AM800’s The Dan MacDonald Show on Monday, he said it was rent that’s pushing the business out after 20 years.

“I understand rents go up,” he said. “My rent went up like 13 per cent, but my friends at Craft Heads, their rent went up like 300 per cent.

“It’s untenable. That kind of rent increase is psychotic,” said Lucier.

It was ownership at Craft Heads, Lucier said, that let him know they were leaving downtown and setting up shop in a newer plaza on Erie Street – next to Nizam Pastry.

When he looked into the location, he found the space right next door was available. That’s where Phog will set up.

“I’m someone who’s super stoked to move into this next process,” Lucier told MacDonald. “What if this new incarnation of the business is 10 times better?”

The pair of nightlife pillars will be in good company – sharing a city block with WindsorEats.

Founder and Co-owner Adriano Ciotoli said he’s excited. “For two and a half years we’ve been doing our own little thing with no one really around us, but to have these two businesses – who we’ve worked with in the past – coming in, the possibilities are endless,” he told CTV News.

Ciotoli said the Craft Heads team has already begun the process of moving their brewing operation into their new home – expecting the two businesses to open by fall.

For Phog, Lucier said there will be overlap between his two leases – with plans to operate both bars simultaneously for a while.

“I’m gonna have basically two Phog Lounges for about five months,” he said.

“And if I get a reasonable response from where I am now, I’ll stay in the spot I’m in now and I’ll run two of them. But that isn’t what’s going to happen.”

In a social media post, Craft Heads invited patrons to a party Tuesday night to both celebrate their ninth anniversary and bid the current location goodbye.