Post #409479 by Jeff Central on Tue, Sep 23, 2008 6:19 AM

I talked to Michael Tsao the night before the "Bon Voyage Kahiki" party as I was helping to set up the sound system. I asked him WHY they were selling the building off and he said that there would need to be a million dollars in repairs. Most of this had to do with the plumbing throughout the entire building. The basement had already flooded a few times and you could see the damage during the final night party.

I also got the feeling that he just didn't want to keep it going anymore. He seemed tired of running the restaurant and he knew the money he would make from the Walgreen sale could be used for his frozen food business.

I do believe that he wanted to rebuild though. I have a picture of the planned "new" Kahiki that was to be located on the riverfront in Columbus. I'll dig it up and post it if you guys are interested. Plans with the city of Columbus never panned out the way he wanted and the frozen food business was taking off so why rebuild? It would take millions of dollars to try and recreate the Kahiki today and it would never be the same.

All this is water under the bridge now.

The Kahiki has been razed, the artifacts have been dispersed and all that is left are memories.

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff