"We've hit a glass ceiling, and it's not been overnight, it's been years." That's what Ryan Burnet told Edina's planning commission last September, explaining why he was closing Cocina del Barrio after fifteen years instead of just renewing the lease. Burnet owned the building. He'd been running the restaurant on lower margins than a typical landlord-tenant deal would allow, and even that wasn't enough anymore.
If you've walked down France Avenue this year, you've noticed the churn: paper on windows, new signage, a food hall that materialized where a bakery used to be. The easy read is that 50th & France is simply cycling through restaurants the way any commercial strip does. The more useful read is narrower. Three restaurants that had anchored this district for a combined 61 years all lost their leases within about four months of each other, and a big share of what's replacing them traces back to one hospitality group. That's not typical turnover. That's a concentration of ownership happening in real time, in a district most residents think of as a patchwork of independent little places.
Three Leases, One Season
Edina Grill closed Sept. 18, 2025, after 26 years at 5028 France Ave. Its lease ran out, and neighboring jeweler R.F. Moeller, next door, was ready to expand into the space. Salut Bar Americain, the French bistro at 5034 France Ave, followed on Dec. 31, 2025, after 20 years. Its owner, Parasole Restaurant Holdings, spent months publicly weighing whether to renew before deciding not to. And Cocina del Barrio, at 5036 France Ave, shut its doors Oct. 1, 2025, after 15 years, with Burnet's own quote above explaining the economics.
Three storefronts, side by side, all gone inside four months. None of these were struggling restaurants pushed out by weak sales. Edina Grill and Salut had loyal followings that had outlasted most Twin Cities restaurant lifespans. What they'd run into was a rent and margin structure that no longer worked for a single-location, independently run restaurant, even one with two decades of goodwill behind it.
Who Actually Moved In
Here's where the pattern gets interesting. Look at what's filling those three storefronts, plus the spaces around them:
- Americana is going into the former Barrio space at 5036 France Ave, a partnership between Burnet and chef Daniel del Prado. The build-out includes a second-floor addition and a glass-enclosed rooftop patio designed by Christian Dean Architecture, targeted for a fall 2026 opening.
- General Sports Bar is taking the former Salut space at 5034 France Ave, from the team behind Nolo's Kitchen, aiming for a late-summer opening.
- Smith Coffee & Cafe, an Eden Prairie shop expanding for the first time, is moving into the former D'Amico & Sons space at 3948 W. 50th St, with a fall grand opening planned.
- The Side Door at Dexter's, a mini food hall at 5005 Ewing Ave S in the former SotaRol space, opened its first concept, Lucia's, on Aug. 6, 2026. Daq Daq, a Korean fried chicken concept, and Rose Sushi are slated to follow later this year. This one is also a Daniel del Prado project, run alongside co-owners Carla and Spencer Jones.
- Takumi Sushi is replacing the recently closed Raku across the street from the new Smith Coffee space.
- A few blocks away at Southdale Center, Smithson, a steak and seafood concept from restaurateurs Sharon and Randy Stanley of Baldamar and 6Smith, is planned for fall 2026.
Read that list once and it looks like six unrelated businesses filling six unrelated vacancies. Read it again and you'll notice that Americana and the Side Door both belong to Daniel del Prado, who already runs Dexter's, the burger-and-sports-bar spot at 3717 W. 50th St that opened in August 2024, and Thérèse, the French bistro that opened last fall in the former Lynhall space inside the Nolan Mains development. Del Prado also has a Tokyo-style listening bar called NoMa Hi-Fi planned steps from Thérèse inside that same development, and when Americana was announced, there was mention of a third, still-undisclosed project somewhere in the neighborhood.
Count it up and one operator, working with different partners on different deals, is behind at least six dining concepts within a few blocks of 50th & France. That's not the same as saying del Prado owns the whole district. General Sports Bar isn't his. Smith Coffee isn't his. Takumi Sushi and Smithson aren't his either. But when three of the district's longest-running independent restaurants all lost their leases in the same season, the operator with the deepest bench, the most existing relationships with landlords, and multiple concepts already running nearby was positioned to absorb more of that vacancy than any single newcomer could.
The Math That Changed
The Americana build-out shows exactly why an independent operator would have a harder time doing what del Prado and Burnet are doing. To make the new restaurant work, the project needed to add roughly 1,500 square feet of dining and bar space on a second floor, which pushes the building's floor area ratio from 0.94 to 1.2. Edina's 1978 parking policy says that once a property exceeds a floor area ratio of 1.0, it has to provide additional off-street parking beyond what the district's shared ramps already cover. That triggered a variance request, a Sept. 10 planning commission hearing, a 5-1 recommendation in favor, and a public comment period before the city council could sign off.
That's not a small ask, and it's not something a single-location owner working on thin margins typically has the appetite, capital, or patience to pursue. It's the kind of move that makes more sense for an operator who already has multiple properties generating cash flow nearby and a long-term stake in the district's identity. The parking variance detail is a footnote in the Americana story, but it's the clearest evidence of how much heavier the lift has become for anyone trying to open something new at 50th & France, and why the operators with existing footholds are the ones clearing that bar.
What This Looks Like on a Walk Down France Avenue This Fall
For now, the block is genuinely mid-transition. Lucia's is open and serving New York City-inspired sourdough pizza, salads, and chicken parm at the Side Door. Everything else on the list above is either under construction, staffing up, or waiting on a fall calendar. If you're used to Edina Grill's booths or Salut's steak frites, that stretch of France Avenue is going to look and feel different by winter, not because the neighborhood emptied out, but because a smaller number of hands are now shaping more of what fills it back in.
None of this means 50th & France is losing its character. Smithson and Takumi Sushi are proof that outside operators are still willing to bet on the district on their own terms. But the next time a new awning goes up on France Avenue, it's worth checking who's actually behind it. There's a decent chance you'll recognize the name from three doors down.
Want more of this kind of ground-level read on the neighborhoods Claire covers, from Edina to Highland Park to Longfellow? MinnCenturyMod tracks the local details that shape daily life here, not just the ones that show up in a listing description.
