Staff Blog
Are Divan Turkish Kitchen and Stephen Starr talking teamup? Depends on who you ask.
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| Divan’s Ilker Ugur, with sister Fulya Ugur |
| Photo | Michael T. Regan |
Kebab eaters were chattering in mid-August when this Craigslist post surfaced, offering G-Ho’s Divan Turkish Kitchen for a cool $1.4 million. Divan co-owner Ilker Ugur confirmed that he was searching for a buyer to either take over the restaurant outright or join him in a 50-50 venture by buying out current business partner Isil Ozturk. (Ugur has said publicly that he and Ozturk do not see eye to eye.)
Yesterday, we received an e-mail from Ugur that caught our attention, if only for its outright use of the “S-Word”: Starr. “[Stephen] Starr’s people are interested in being partners with me,” the message read. “They may buy out my partner and continue Divan Turkish Kitchen with his signature.”
Attention fully piqued, we requested more details. According to Ugur, a lawyer friend of his has connections within the Starr Restaurant Group (SRG), and has brought an identical deal — either 100 percent ownership or half-and-half partnership — to the restaurateur’s table. “I am open to either choice they will make, but I would like to keep 50 percent of it with Starr,” Ugur wrote to us.
So this is all happening, right?! Stephen Starr at 22nd and Carpenter? Mashed eggplant martinis and all that?
Pump the brakes. Reached for comment on his cell phone, Starr denied knowledge of the potential deal with Divan. “I’ve never spoken to him,” the restaurateur says of Ugur.
Tapped for a response, Ugur says he thinks Starr has not been made aware of the deal yet — the Turk’s purported connection with SRG just presented the idea three days ago. “[My lawyer friend] knew that I want to sell half of my business because of not getting along with my partner,” Ugur says. “He happened to know people who know Stephen Starr, so [he offered] to get in touch with them. He has spoken to [SRG].”
“I’m hoping that [Starr] is going to be interested,” he adds.
OK, so it was a bit premature on Divan’s part — there’s a very real chance that Starr and Co. will have no interest in the deal whatsoever. But it’s interesting to think about — Starr reaching into the fringier residential neighborhoods of Philadelphia for projects — especially considering his recent acquisition of the Broad Street “A Place for Ribs” Diner.
We’ll have more details if this develops. And if it does, the first round of mashed eggplant martinis are on us.
Sounds like you don’t know much of anything about anything. Journalism at its finest. I think I hear the New York Times knocking at your door. Oh wait, perhaps that is just your foot tapping while you try to think up another rumor-riddled tale. Good luck and thanks for wasting our time with that article.
No prob!
Sense of humor. It’s what’s for dinner!
Ilker Ugur is a pretty dishonest guy. He hasn’t told the truth since he learned to talk. The whole restaurant sale is desperate don’t you think. Sounds like he is really one step from bankruptcy.
Dear Caroline, (if you are for real)
How could you posibly make a comment about someone without even knowing
what is going on? Did he personaly lie to you? Did you do business with him? I don’t think so.
If I didn’t know him and if I didn’t know what is going on, I would believe you and I would think that he is a dishonest person. But he is not. He is a very honest business man. All of us, as his neighbors, like him and support him. He brought quality to the neighborhoood with his restaurant and his houses’ constructions. He built so many beautiful houses in our neighborhood. He recently bought a beautiful building in Queen Village and he opened up one of the most beautiful pastry/coffee shop in the entire Philadelphia area serving the best breakfast I have ever eaten. Cafe Fulya is an excellent place to have breakfast. And they serve breakfast all day long. Check http://www.cafefulya.com/test Is this the guy going out of business or bankrupting? I don’t think so. His restaurant Divan Turkish Kitchen, like many other restaurants in the nation may have hard times to do business but it doesn’t mean that he is one step from bankruptcy. I don’t know how many buildings, and houses he owns in Philadelphia, but I know one thing, he owns alot of them and his main business is real estate developing and he is a landlord for many houses and apartments.
This guy is a very well known person with an excellent reputation. And it is very easy to get yourself a name Caroline and leave nasty messages like you did for him. Probably you are one those loosers who can’t even put his own name to make that comment. Unfortunaly, besides lots of good things internet technology brought us, this technology also gave lots of hidden loosers power to write bad things for good people.
Who are you?