Suga Shack and the Yuppie Tsunami

Well, it's short and it's sweet and is perched right on Spring Street. Of course, there being insufficient room on the sign for " sugar " and in taking the advantage of the Sweet Shop Rules of Poetic License, they used the diminutive, " SUGA ". While some of their patrons may be hooked on something other than phonics, we all recognize their intent phonetically. The Suga Shack sits on the north side of Spring Street between Coming and Rutledge in what remains yet a neighborhood.

This is another in our series on places of character, color and individuality which do not seem long for this world. The rising tide of re-gentrification which is rolling up the peninsula in the form of a yuppie tsunami will certainly cream the Suga Shack. Developers will kick the Crapachino out this charming little place.

While there may be a building code flaw here or there, the place certainly meets the city's height ordinance. There appears to be some off street parking, but we're not sure whether that's a patron's blue truck which has some grass growing up into it's wheel wells. The Shack is certainly not blocking the air flow to that snappy HVAC system of the building on the left.

When we have a look at the " comps ", the comparable property values so embraced by appraisers, the Suga Shack moves close to the head of the class. That Charleston Single House to the east ( right ) appears to have been abandoned by its original porches after which they went for brick. There is a lapse in the bricks for now, but the fresh pine 2 x 4's suggest another chapter in the works.

We hope that the Shack will endure, that they own the place and can afford to thumb their noses at the grand design which we hear thundering down Spring Street at this very moment. Being sensible, it is clear that there is no place for such places in that grand design which is one of the things which bothers us about that grand design. Good luck.