Airport Tavern closes temporarily after employees test positive for COVID19.

THURSDAY, Oct. 7 — Airport Tavern &  Steakhouse has announced it is closing for at least a week after “a few” of its employees tested positive for COVID19.

“Hi friends, we have some important news to share with our community,” a Facebook post said today. “Unfortunately, a few of our employees have tested positive for covid.

“In order to mitigate the situation we are having every employee get tested and closing down the restaurant for at least the next week to clean and quarantine. We ask that if you were here within the last week to please monitor yourself. Customer and staff safety are our main concerns and we want to keep everyone as safe as possible.

"We are so sorry to have this happen,” the post continued, “but also understand these are the times we live in and this is a risk every business owner takes when they turn on the open sign. Thank you all for your support especially during this tough time. We will be back and sanitized!”

Efforts to reach the owner, Pete Sinadinos, for further comment were unsuccessful.

The state requires restaurants whose employees test positive to be closed temporarily and be cleaned in a way consistent with requirements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control.

The restaurant, at 5000 N. Grand River Ave., was started 71 years ago. According to a 2017 story in the Lansing State Journal, it was started by Sinadinos’ father, Paul. It has been operated as a restaurant since the 1920s. At one time, it was also a filling station. Owners in the 1930s remodeled the property in “the same style of Spanish architecture,” the story said. Pete Sinadinos is quoted as saying there were once cottages behind it.