Photo by Nicole Roegner

The sun was going down and lights were aglow at every business on McDowell Road and Third Avenue except one – the Willow House coffee shop. And that made Rachel Heinrich cry. The Phoenix woman’s beloved neighborhood hangout had shut down in October.

“I can’t believe it’s gone,” the 34-year-old part-time student and office worker said as she drove past the empty building. The Willow House has been part of Heinrich’s life since she was 18, and she has lived at five residences within a mile of it. Friends knew they could find her there, reading, writing or playing cards.

The Willow House sat in the Willo Historic District for 16 years and was known for its homey/hippie environment and the trinkets that local artists sold there. It was an anchor in what has become a character-rich enclave of stores and restaurants in Downtown Phoenix.

But when Willow’s lease came up for renewal last fall, the landlord decided to raise the rent. So the tenants packed up their espresso machine and opened weeks later at 17th Avenue and Van Buren Street, about 2.5 miles away. It’s still called Willow House, although it’s no longer part of the namesake Willo neighborhood.

“I feel like I’m being elbowed out [of the Willo District],” Heinrich says. “People with money and big-city ideas are coming in because it’s a cool place, but it’s becoming more corporate and flashy instead of communal. I’m heartbroken by it.”

The Willow House tenants were paying $3,200 per month in rent. The landlord, Peyman Nassiri, proposed an increase of $300. Nassiri claims the rent was low for the area, and that the tenants kept the property filthy. He says he is glad to see them go even though they are taking the Willow name with them.

“The Willow House will always have one home and that is here in this building, no matter what the name is,” says Nassiri, a California resident who ran the Willow House for seven years. He is leasing the building to a Glendale family who will open a café and coffee shop on the premises in late January. Nassiri says the family has cleaned the building and made many improvements.

Chris Timmins, 38, is part owner of the Willow coffee shop and works at Intel. He says the rent was sure to keep climbing in an area that is fast becoming trendy, with million-dollar homes and a Starbucks on the corner.

By comparison, rent near the state capitol is cheap, Timmins says, and his team has the option to buy after a year. (They’ll most likely take it.)

The coffee shop’s new location is a renovated, 1930s-era house that’s almost as charming as the original. It doesn’t have much indoor space, but there’s a big front porch and ample room outdoors. The front, back and side yards form an oasis in a questionable part of town near an industrial area and the Oakland Historic District. It’s wedged between an empty building and a tiny, beat-up taco shop.

The eclectic Willow crowd isn’t scared of a little character, even if it involves vagabond neighbors asking for spare change. Half of the old clientele will visit the new location, says manager Randall Denton, 24.

“The regulars define us,” Denton says. “A lot have been here helping and checking out the new place. It’s really cool. A lot feel ownership, and they see us working hard getting ready for them.”

While some patrons, like Heinrich, are wary of the new neighborhood, others feel more welcome there. The new neighborhood is colorful, says longtime customer Justin Brandimarte, a 24-year-old set designer. “The occasional person might be turned off, but the loyal patrons won’t care.”

The night scene likely will include the same crowd of students, artists, poets and hipsters. Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous will continue to meet there, but there won’t be room for artists’ wares anymore, which the owners are upset about.

Daytime patrons will bring something entirely new to Willow House – suits. Government workers are expected to create a big lunch rush, bringing twice the business that Willow House was used to.

While the buttoned-up crowd doesn’t fall into the typical coffee house demographic, they’re welcome to patronize the Willow House anyway, Timmins says.

“They seem like good people, and if they want coffee and sandwiches, we have that and will be happy to serve them,” the owner says. “Where the old Willow House was 16 years ago was quite rough, and it changed. So I don’t know why that couldn’t happen here.”