We learned last month that Mission Pie was slated to close September 1, after a perfectly respectable 12-year run. But after owners Karen Heisler and wife Krystin Rubin discussed various reasons for shutting the business down, a big motivator that was only passingly mentioned by Heisler may have been front and center: selling the building and cashing out.
Heisler owns the building at the corner of 25th and Mission, which has six residential units upstairs from the commercial space — one of which she and Rubin live in. And as Mission Local reports this week, the building has hit the market at a listing price of $3.995 million — almost double what Heisler paid for it in 2005. Heisler declined to comment on the sale.
Real estate agent Jean-Paul Samaha, who sold the building to Heisler 14 years ago, is listing it again, and says to Mission Local, "She decided to close Mission Pie and is selling the building. It is a simple story."
But as of a few weeks ago, the story wasn't so simple. Mission Pie, which opened in 2007, was seen by many as a model business in the community, and one that strived to pay good wages to its workers. Rubin spoke about wanting to pay higher wages in this ever-more-expensive city, and how that wasn't feasible. And back in May Heisler griped to Mission Local about the infringement of delivery apps like Caviar, and how joining forces with them was against her ethics because they contributed to the unsustainable gig economy and profited off of brick-and-mortar businesses with high overhead costs without paying for their own workers' benefits.
Rubin and Heisler also hinted at some burnout — suggesting that whatever they did next, they might want to do separately, since 12 years of both living and working together daily may have taken its toll.
Long story short, Heisler was sitting on a handsomely profitable investment in that building, and maybe it just seemed like time to cash out. Full stop. 12 years is a plenty good run for any small restaurant, and maybe the story wasn't so complicated after all.
Related: Mission Pie To Close After 12 Years, On September 1