Cost of store rent at Bridge Street? (Huntsville: leases, how much)

[HuntsvilleJT]

So today I ran across this article regarding a one million judgement against Dolce's owners for failure to pay rent and related expenses.

Once-sizzling Dolce restaurant project in Huntsville fizzles to nearly $1 million rent judgment, claims against developer | al.com

So reading the article I saw that the rent for Dolce was $20,000 per month with $3,400 per month maintenance fees.

I don't have any experience running a business but are those costs considered normal? Or is it because Bridge Street is considered upscale? Honestly that blew my mind seeing those numbers. I'm wondering if the rent for the other stores are similar to what Dolce had to pay. Would that be a reason the bowling place has changed ownership multiple times?

[E Limestone Dude]

Thanks for the link!

Shocking how much they charged for rent. Then again, PF Chang's rent is probably similar, but I don't think Chang would have a hard time paying the bill.

Funny thing is I kept wondering how Dolce stayed in business much longer than they should have. Turns out they must not have paid a dime in rent!!! (1,000,000 / 20,000 = 50 months of past due rent!!!)

[Seth Parker]

Part of it is the fact that it's upscale. They usually charge by the square foot and the space is a pretty good size. The other is that it's "prime corner location" by the movie theatre. I had looked into lease prices out there for retail and it wasn't outrageously high, but higher than I thought it should be. They also have some office space upstairs....that was like $30-$35/ft....and I thought that was way too high for office space with little visibility.

Most of the retail spaces that you see out there pay nowhere near that much money, but they do want multi-year leases.