Tula’s and the Kramer building: sold
Washington’s Kramer building and its ground-floor Gay Street restaurant Tula’s will soon be transferred from the five-year ownership of the Thompson family to the ownership and management of two longtime local weekenders — one of whom has just made his weekend place in Woodville into a full-time residence, and both of whom promise no major changes to the three-story building or the restaurant.
“Like any new business owners, we’ve got some ideas,” said Alexandria real estate attorney Mark Allen, a familiar face in Rappahannock who’s had a weekend home in Culpeper for 25 years and who is buying the restaurant and office/ commercial building with national radio talk show host, author and columnist John McCaslin. “But we are not fixing anything that’s broken. We want to continue in the spirit of conducting business the way Ken Thompson has conducted business.”
Thompson, who with wife Mary and son Andy owns the Thornton River Grille complex in Sperryville, purchased the Gay Street building from its namesake, furniture maker Peter Kramer.
Allen said all the current tenants will stay on, including Kramer and the county’s building and emergency services offices downstairs, Butch Zindel’s Rappahannock Real Estate Resources on Gay Street and the Virginia Extension offices that share the top floor with Thompson’s successful Rapp Office telecommuting center — which will also remain in place, Allen said, and is included in the deal.
“All the restaurant employees will keep their jobs,” said Allen, who expects that McCaslin will be more involved in the restaurant, and day-to-day doings, while Allen manages the building.
Settlement is scheduled for the first week of September, at which point a purchase price is expected to be made public.