Four former Vashon Village tenants have moved from the commercial park in front of The Lodges and will reopen in new spaces this month.

Remodeling and construction company RO Enterprises, Sarah’s Salon — formerly Uninhibited Ink! — and local nonprofit Seeds 4 Success are now open at their new spaces in the Thriftway plaza. The three businesses share a common entry area just east of the grocery store that the occupants hope will become a gallery for First Friday art walks. Three separate doors lead into the individual offices.

Another former Village tenant, The Brown Agency, a financial services company, is moving into a house on the highway just north of town and Cove Road.

LeeAnn Brown, who owns the business with her husband Bill Brown, said “it was time” to move as the company has been in its Vashon Village location for seven years.

“We had this opportunity to buy our own place when this house on the highway became available,” Brown said. “It’s the perfect office space. We’re looking forward to a change and the chance to own our office.”

LeeAnn said she and Bill will also be moving into the home north of Cove Road.

Excitement over a chance for a new start was also obvious last week for RO Enterprises’ Jim Schmidt, Sarah’s Salon’s Sarah St. Germain and Seeds 4 Success’ Lee Kopines. Schmidt said the new location offers better visibility in a shopping center that is almost always bustling with island shoppers; Kopines said more space was the reason for her move, while St. Germain said the new space means a new start with a new theme, an assistant who is training to be a cosmetologist and new hours. She said she will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

But among the positive feelings about the move, the three business owners talked of rising rents and a changing attitude of management at Vashon Village since Seattle developer Scott Shapiro of Eagle Rock Ventures — who also built and owns The Lodges on Vashon, just behind the Village — bought it from Dan McCleary in the summer of 2013. The four are the most recent to vacate the 4.5-acre area between Vashon Highway and The Lodges on Vashon that, as recently as 2015, was full of at least 13 island businesses and office spaces. As of this month, the property’s 10 buildings contain only three businesses: personal training center CoreCentric, a new boutique called House of Tara and islander Jon Garriot’s 24-hour gym. According to Shapiro, the complex also houses an event space called The Cottage and offices for The Lodges.

Shapiro said rent increased by 10 percent in 2015 and then increased in 2016 and 2017 “by the same dollar amount.” He said the rent increases were necessary in order to bring the rental prices up to the island’s market rate and to pay for building maintenance, rising taxes and improvements to the grounds and facilities. Prior to these increases, rents hadn’t been raised since 2011.

“The rents were only increased 2.5 percent in 2011 and nothing in 2012, 2013 and 2014, so when you take the average, it came out to about 3.33 percent growth over the seven years,” he said.

For Schmidt, owner of RO Enterprises, the increases were a large reason why he left the Village. He had been renting his roughly 240 square-foot office at Vashon Village for at least six years. At first, his rent was $300 per month ($1.25 per square foot).

“Obviously I didn’t expect it to stay there,” he said of the rent amount.

Rent started to rise in 2015 and he said that if he had stayed at the village this year, his monthly rent would be $468 ($1.95 per square foot).

“They’ve raised rent annually since then. Really last year, I felt it was above market. They priced us out of the market,” Schmidt said.

Island real estate broker Emma Amiad said that in a town of Vashon’s size, market rates for commercial space rentals don’t really exist because each space is so different.

However, she said rates for the Cunningham Building (the two-story building across from Cafe Luna), which she called one of the “best local buildings,” is between $1.30 and $1.60 per square foot.

“I would call that market rate,” she said.

The building she rents for her real estate business is older, but on the main highway, and goes for between $1.10 to $1.30 per square foot, she said.

“Obviously the newer, nicer places are going to charge more, as they should,” she added.

But Schmidt noticed more than rising rent. He also said he and many other businesses did not have a long-term lease and were paying month-to-month after Shapiro came in.

“When I first moved in with Dan McCleary, I was on a lease,” Schmidt said.

St. Germain, of Sarah’s Salon, and Kopines, of Seeds 4 Success, both said that when they asked for long-term leases, they were turned down while rent increased.

Reached last week, Shapiro said that if a business’ lease expired under his ownership, it continued month-to-month unless the owner wanted a long-term lease.

“If someone wanted a long-term lease, we have been and continue to be willing to provide them one,” Shapiro said in a Friday email. “However, not everyone has been interested in the terms of a long-term lease.”

St. Germain said her rent at the Village had risen to around $1,000 per month ($1.32 per square foot) from $750 in 2011.

“My rent is crazy,” she said as she pointed out loose, window frames that needed to be fixed and uneven bricks in the walkway outside her salon.

And while the rising rent wasn’t the main reason Kopines — who also used to manage the property until her move this month — moved, she said she made all the businesses sign a one-year lease when she found out the property was selling in 2013.

“I was the one who ran around and made leases … so rents couldn’t be raised. Scott said he was going to increase rent 30 percent. I said no we’re not,” she recalled. “He said he’d raise it 10 percent a year for three years. That was two years ago.”

St. Germain said that at their Thriftway location, the three business owners are sharing the $2,365 per month rental price.

“Even with all the capital improvements we made there, it still makes more financial sense than staying (at the Village),” St. Germain said.

Adding to the list of islanders who left the Village in 2016, islander Colby Atwood, who had been renting a 385 square-foot office for the past eight years, left in May after the rent increases and what he called a changing culture.

“The vibe changed,” he said. “It was more of a formal business than a causal Vashon-style community of people.”

He said he never had a long-term lease, as the agreement was “casual” with the old owner, but started out in 2008 paying $510 per month ($1.32 per square foot). By the time he left in May, he was paying $660 per month ($1.71 per square foot).

“(Rent) had been pretty flat for a long time, then there were a series of rent increases. I understand from a business standpoint … (but) there were some just cold-hearted business decisions being made,” he said. “The rent was a big factor. It wasn’t worth it anymore.”

Other small business owners who had small offices in the Village left quietly in 2016, including CPA Joyce Olson and Pampered Paws, whose owner announced recently she is closing due to her repetitive use injuries.

As for the future of the Village, Shapiro says he wants to find tenants “that fit very well with existing and new tenants.”

“We’re really working to find logical tenants for vacant spaces that bring synergy,” he said. “The idea is that you could go to one tenant and then go to another one and have a reason to go to that one. You’d have choices. I’m excited about the changes and opportunities that are arising.”

One of those new tenants that will be opening in the Village this year is Vashon E-bike, a new business from Vashon Watersports’ Doug and Erin Kieper that will open March 1. The Village business will have electric, pedal-assist bicycles for rent and for sale, and will also offer island tours.

Shapiro said the Kiepers’ business is “complimentary” with what he would like to see at the Village. He also said he is in talks with another business about coming to the Village, but could not give details as a lease agreement has not yet been signed.

RO Enterprises, Sarah’s Salon and Seeds 4 Success are now all located in the Thriftway shopping center, just east of the grocery store. All of the businesses are currently open.

The Brown Agency is located at 16619 Vashon Highway and will open in that location on Monday, Jan. 9.