A pair of large restaurant spaces that helped transform the Uptown neighborhood in Oakland in the last decade are about to get split into four smaller spaces, with the latest closure being Southern food spot Pican. As the East Bay Times reports, the eight-year-old restaurant will close after dinner service on Sunday, June 11, and while there is a plan to reopen in one of the smaller spaces in the building once they've been completed in the fall, that still sounds up in the air.

Not up in the air, however, are two other tenants that are confirmed for the smaller spaces — a new location for the popular Brown Sugar Kitchen, and a relocation for Bocanova, the pan-Latin restaurant which is looking to move out of Jack London Square.

The original Brown Sugar Kitchen at 2534 Mandela Parkway in West Oakland will remain open. A previous plan to open a second location of the restaurant in SF's Bayview district never came to fruition.

The moves, which are all still "months away" according to the East Bay Times, come after the closure of Ozumo in the space next door to Pican last fall. Along with Pican, the high-end sushi spot helped define the redeveloped neighborhood in 2009 as a new dining destination, attracting the likes of Hawker Fare (now closed), Plum (also closed), and Plum Bar in the ensuing years.

The Ozumo space was huge by restaurant standards at 8,000 square feet, and Pican is similarly large at over 6,000 square feet, and Pican owner Michael LeBlanc tells Inside Scoop, "It's really about right-sizing. We still have a super loyal following. I feel like we have Pican disciples. But that discipleship is better served in a a 3,500-square-foot space."

Assuming the downsized Pican deal goes through, that still leaves one vacant space to fill, since Ozumo is not coming back, so stay tuned.