A.S. Cooper is poised to move part of its department store into the Pier 6 waterfront property that was until recently occupied by D'Mikado.

The Japanese restaurant quietly cleared out of the 6,800 square foot space in November when its lease ended, opening up the opportunity for the department store to begin negotiations for the space.

Store president Peter Cooper needs the space because he plans to knock down his current store that runs from Front Street to Reid Street early next year and replace it with a seven storey mixed use structure. While nothing is set in stone, Mr. Cooper says Pier 6 will likely house the women's clothing and accessories department currently located on the third floor of his store as well as his perfume department.

"It is very difficult to find space that large in Hamilton and particularly on Front Street," he said adding that he is only seeking a short term lease of two years."

Even with the addition of that property, the establishment of Cooper's MAN and Cooper's Cachet on Front Street, Cooper's Express in Washington Mall and his recent purchase of Astwood Dickinson, Mr. Cooper says he has not quite fulfilled his needs for retail space. He said, however, that staff were pleased to hear that he was poised to sign a lease for the Pier 6 space.

"There has been some anxiousness [from employees although I sent out an internal memo a good six months ago to say we had secured enough space for 90 percent of businesses but that no leases had been signed and I wasn't able to disclose those spaces."

This is the first time a retail store will be located at Pier 6. In 1996, Inner Harbour Limited renovated the former cycle parking shed and opened Pier 6 bar and restaurant. The space has seen several changes since that time. In 1998, Elbow Beach took over management, refurbished the interior and reopened that April under the new name The Surf Club. A year later Paget Partners took over and reopened it as the steak house and sushi bar featuring a micro-brewery run by the Triangle Brewing Company and featuring entertainer Jimmy Keyes. They closed just months later because they were losing money. Mr. Hunt then entered a new lease with the Corporation and reopened a new Pier 6 nightclub in the spring of 2000. That summer, the venue quietly reopened its doors again as the Japanese restaurant D'Mikado.

While the restaurant has been open for four years, it has undergone a number of changes during that time. Last October, owner of The Beach Rick Olson took over with a view to buying it. He briefly ran a Friday evening happy hour on the oceanside patio and had planned to revamp the interior of the restaurant as well, but the plan never came to fruition. In April 2003, Inner Harbour Ltd. made a "major investment" in more than a dozen computers with gaming machine software after supplier' consultant Julian Hall said they would not be covered by any existing laws against gaming machines. However the machines like all others on the island were removed in June when the Prohibition of Gaming Machines Act 2000 came into effect rendering all slot machines illegal.

Mr. Hunt told The Royal Gazette yesterday that he decided to close D'Mikado because his lease was up on November 10 and it was just time to move on. "Our lease was up on November 10 and I haven't had interests in the restaurant business in the last three years anyway. I was hoping that casinos were coming in and we were going to be in the position to put a first class casino in that location and then in June that was squashed," he said. "There are just too many restaurants and it is just too much trouble I just don't have the time for it anymore."