Just a few years after opening, La Piazza, 1504 E. North Ave., is closing at the end of the month.
The East Side restaurant and bar will remain open through May 28.
According to manager Jeannie Pehowski, business has slowed since recent construction took away much of the nearby parking.
"We've taken a big hit in the area. When the dorms went up, our business was gone," she said. "We used to have parking in the back, but now with the dorms and the eight-car loading zone across the street, there's nowhere for people to park."
Pehowski said that because of the drop in business, it didn't make sense to re-lease the space when La Piazza's current lease expires.
"We have good food, but there's no business here," she said. "It's bad that we've taken all these hits, but we can't really commit to another five years."
The space will be available for lease after La Piazza closes, but there isn't any word yet on what will fill it.
Contrary to her natural state of being, Renee Lorenz is a total optimist when it comes to Milwaukee. Since beginning her career with OnMilwaukee.com, her occasional forays into the awesomeness that is the Brew City have turned into an overwhelming desire to discover anything and everything that's new, fun or just ... "different."
Expect her random musings to cover both the new and "new-to-her" aspects of Miltown goings-on, in addition to periodically straying completely off-topic, which usually manifests itself in the form of an obscure movie reference.
