The story of how Kwang C. An came to sell his East Side Japanese restaurant boils down to some subtle arm-twisting.
An named a price for Sakura that he thought would surely be rejected; the potential buyers didn't blink an eye — and agreed to pay cash.
"I'm businessman. Except for my family, I can sell anything," An joked on Friday, a week after the deal was closed. "They twisted my arm; I don't want to break my arm."
Neither An nor the buyers, a group from Phoenix headed by Yong Joo Lee, would comment on how much money it took to twist An's arm.
The deal was finalized July 17, and Lee was heading to Tucson on Friday to take the reins.
Lee has made a couple of appearances at the restaurant since the sale, and said he plans to relocate to Tucson in the next couple of weeks.
People are also reading…
The sale will not immediately end An's affiliation with the restaurant or those ubiquitous commercials and billboards featuring him and his "No. 1 son," former Diamondbacks slugger Luis Gonzalez, now with the Florida Marlins.
An said he has agreed to consult for Lee over the next year, including making TV commercials with ballplayers who call him almost weekly and refer to him as "dad." He said he'll also keep his celebrity and sports photographs in Sakura for the next three years.
Lee said he has no plans to change anything about Sakura, 6534 E. Tanque Verde Road, from the décor to the menu. He said he bought the restaurant because of its proven formula for success.
"Mr. An set up everything pretty, pretty nice. I don't have any ideas for changing the food or anything. I'm keeping everything," he said.
The sale leaves An with one restaurant, the Great Wall of China, on South Craycroft Road, which he owns with his wife, Christina. The couple opened Great Wall in 1983, then sold it in 1991 — not long after An opened Sakura — then reopened it in 2007. The restaurant had gone through a couple of owners since 1991 and had been closed nearly two years when the Ans took it back.
An sold his second Sakura location, at 6091 N. Oracle Road, to the international restaurant chain Benihana Inc. in November 2005.
An said he also is contemplating opening a restaurant in Oro Valley.
He said he's in talks with the developers of the Oro Valley Marketplace on Tangerine and Oracle roads to lease a 5,000-square-foot space for a casual Asian restaurant that would serve Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean food.
Officials with Oro Valley Marketplace could not be reached to comment Friday.
An said the deal is "80 percent" done. If he gets the lease, he plans to open the restaurant early next year.
sakura restaurant is sold
Sakura timeline
• 1983 — Kwang C. and Christina An open Great Wall of China at 2445 S. Craycroft Road.
• 1991 — The Ans sell Great Wall of China, open Sakura at 6534 E. Tanque Verde Road.
• 2001 — A second Sakura location opens at 6091 N. Oracle Road.
• 2005 — The Sakura on Oracle Road is sold to Benihana Inc.
• 2007 — The Ans reopen Great Wall of China.
• 2008 — Sakura on Tanque Verde Road is sold to a Phoenix group headed by Yong Joo Lee.