Duck Chang’s faces an uncertain future
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| Duck Chang’s told to “fully renovate” or move out. |
Peter Chang, the owner of Duck Chang’s Restaurant, an Annandale mainstay for the past 46 years, is facing a difficult decision.
The new owner of the property is planning to upgrade the small retail strip and has told Chang the restaurant has to either renovate its interior space or leave when its lease is up.
According to Fairfax County tax records, an entity called 4415 John Marr LLC bought the property in April 2021 from Raport Annandale Center LLC for $7.9 million.
The only other tenant left – the AnnSandra gift shop – plans to move to a new location before its lease expires at the end of March. Party Co closed in March 2020, and Annandale Cleaners closed in early 2021.
Duck Chang’s, which specializes in Peking Duck, has been at 4415 John Marr Drive since Peter’s father, Duck Man Ming, founded it in 1975.
Related story: Duck Chang’s commemorates 40 years in Annandale
Peter Chang said the sale of the property and the plans for upgrading it “caught us by surprise.” He informed the new owner he wants to extend his lease – which is up on Aug. 31, 2022 – but didn’t hear back. “For the last year or so, we’ve been waiting with bated breath to see if they will extend the lease.”
Eventually, he discovered the landlord is requiring the restaurant to be renovated. The owner sent him a letter months earlier, but “we never received it.” He finally got a copy on Nov. 21. It says the dining room, kitchen, and bathrooms must be “fully renovated and upgraded” as a condition for renewing the lease. [The landlord hasn’t responded to our requests for comment.]
Then on Dec. 24, Peter Chang learned that Duck Chang’s space had been listed for lease for the previous two months. He wouldn’t have known about that unless a friend happened to look it up online.
“So, I’m in a panic now,” he says. “It’s absolutely the worst timing.” The holidays are an extremely busy time for the restaurant, inflation is soaring, and he was planning for a post-pandemic future.
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| Peking Duck [Duck Chang’s |
After temporarily closing, then reverting to all-carryout for months during the pandemic, Duck Chang’s reopened for reservation-only indoor dining with social distancing in July. They closed the dining room again shortly before Christmas after a couple of employees and family members tested positive for Covid.
“We don’t know what ‘fully renovated’ means,” Peter says. His request for more information has still not been answered.
If he decides to open Duck Chang’s in a new location, it would cost $500,000 to 750,000, he says, and finding a vacant restaurant property in Annandale would be difficult. He has asked the landlord to extend the lease for a year while he looks for another location, but hasn’t heard back.
Peter’s eldest son, Kinlon Chang, reached out to the community with a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for renovations. It has so far raised $37,115; the goal is $100,000.
“We are at kind of a crossroads,” Kinlon says. “We don’t want to have to close. We like our location.” He is concerned about the future of the employees, as well as the family.
“My dad would never ask for money,” he concedes, however, “the restaurant has meant so much to our family. It’s really important to communicate that to the community.”
Peter worries about what his 88-year-old mother is going to do if the restaurant closes. “This is all she’s ever known. She comes in every day. It gives her purpose to get up every morning.”
Duck Chang’s is the last originally owned business in Annandale, Peter Chang notes. “This is my family legacy.”
15 responses to “Duck Chang’s faces an uncertain future”
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Glad we have a news source following this now but I have a few comments.
One, editorial: the go fund me has raised 36k with the goal of 100k.
Second, and I’m not saying DC is lying, but there seems to be a lot of vagueness on the details here. Did you receive a copy of the landlords letter to verify their demands? Including it would be helpful for the story. I saw that you reached out to the LLC with no response yet, I will be following to see if you ever get one.
Lastly, I could not find any active “for lease” information online which the go fund me suggests exist. Again, not saying anyone here is lying, I just find the vague details and unverified claims worth digging into.
Are you the new landlord?
Good catch on the amount raised. The article has been updated.
This is indeed sad news. I’ve been getting my duck here for over 30 years.
The big question I have is why don’t they move into the brother’s vacant Pekeng Duck restaurant building located on Route 1. The building has been vacant for years, still sitting there with the Pekeng Duck name and I think it was renovated prior to closing. It may seem like a logical option to move operations into the vacant building but what do I know.
Maybe they could move to the vacant Wendy’s building. It would probably need a minor renovations, but it would be in the same vicinity, has a large parking lot, would enable you to keep you to make your out business even easier via a drive through, yet still offers a dine in space….
I guess I’m not surprised that new owners are trying to force existing tenants out. With a lease as long as they have had, I assume they aren’t paying market. Especially if it’s been 40 years since the property was improved. If AnnSandra is relocating, that might be a source of answers too. They’ve been a staple there as long as I’ve lived here and probably a whole lot longer. From the new owners perspective, an empty strip mall might give them opportunities for renovation and reconfiguration that might maximize their investment in some other way. Personally, if that’s the case, I think it’s shortsighted.
I don’t know any part of the story, but I am much more sympathetic to a small business of 40+ years over a new landlord. The latter has no real stakes in the history of the community. I’m sorry that Duck Changs is in this position and hope they find a new location soon.
The real new owner is MegaMart who plans to open a grocery store. I don’t know if MegaMart really cares if Duck Chang stays or goes, as they will just have more space for their grocery store, this is maybe why MegaMart is not really responding to them.
It doesn’t seem like there is enough parking for a grocery store. If you have a contact at MegaMart, please let us know who it is. [email protected].
Move into the empty Dice Burger building
Yes… definitely look into the old Dice Burger spot. There is constant constant turnover at that location. Seems like a perfect place for a well-established, Annandale-name like Duck Chang’s…
My question, what if Peter Chang does spend the money to make the renovations but the landlord still wants him out and doesn’t honor what he said?
Is $100k enough? Have contractors submitted bids?
If $100k is enough, why not just borrow the money from the bank?
How long of a lease can they get on favorable terms? Hopefully long enough to justify paying for upgrades. 20 years ago, the bathrooms weren’t so great.
Commercial landlords are all awful. I don’t think there is a good one out there. I think Duck Changs should start looking for another space, rather than renovating this one on their own dime.
It would be a great loss to Annandale if Duck Chang’s closes, or moves out of Annandale. Every time my daughter visits, she insists on getting food there. I only wish they delivered! There seems to be a trend with the strip mall owners forcing businesses out in Annandale. I hope more people will help on the go fund me page!
I think Duck Changs should look into either the Wendy’s space or Dice Burger. They can stay in the same area, more parking area space, too. Good luck!