Spangler closes mortuary in Menlo Park

Someone please explain this one to me:
In the middle of a deep recession, with plenty of excess office and retail space around, and no recovery in sight, the landlord doubles the rent, effectively kicking out a solid, long-term tenant.

Makes absolutely no economic sense on the face of it, so what gives? What ulterior motive is at work here or is the landlord just plain stupid?

Spangler was probably in a long term lease that is ending. Their old rent was probably way below market and "doubling" the rent probably just would bring them to the amount they already should have been paying... Why not put the numbers in the article to see the truth... It's not like less people are dying...

The Spangler spokesperson declined to disclose the rental rates.
> Richard, The Almanac

Seems like all the family owned funeral homes are being forced out. The only one left around is Jones's Mortuary in east palo alto. At least Mr. Jones chose to stay and serve the community after after Ikea tried to buy him out. He refused to budge so Ikea paid mr jones to have his front entrance put on the side of the building to have more privacy. Way to go mr jones.
He played david and goliath and david stood his ground.

How sad. The location was once occupied by the Johnson's so it has been a funeral home since I can remember. My grandparents had services at this location. Sad to see it close.

Since we no longer have a mortuary in Menlo Park I did some checking. Jones Mortuary in East Palo Alto is not the only family owned funeral home in the area. Crippen & Flynn Mortuary in Redwood City and Roller & Hapgood Mortuary in Palo Alto are both family owned and just as close.