Four years ago, Ann Arbor eagerly welcomed its first Five Guys Burger and Fries, a Virginia-based fast casual burger chain, to the University of Michigan campus area. Now, with the chain's third Ann Arbor-area store nearly ready to open on Ann Arbor-Saline Road, franchise owners have decided to close the original State Street location.

The Five Guys Burgers and Fries at 311 S. State St. will close on June 8, according to district manager Mike Pittiglio.

When the restaurant originally opened in January, 2011 in the former Shaman Drum building, Brian Adelman, who owns 27 Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchises in Michigan and Indiana with partners Michael Abrams and David Pittaway, predicted that this first Ann Arbor location would attract a good mix of students and non-students.

But Pittiglio said that it was the shop's customer mix that ultimately did the location in. They just weren't bringing in enough in sales to cover the high rent on State Street.

"The rent for that building is one of the most expensive rents in our company," said Pittiglio. "It's not so much the sales as it is the average check. Instead of a family of four spending $30 on a meal, it's students spending $6 or $8."

Pittiglio said that the State Street restaurant's transaction counts are similar to a store that pulls in $20,000 to $25,000 a week, but because the customer base is almost exclusively students, this location was only seeing sales of $10,000 to $13,000 a week.

"The staff there works unbelievably hard," said Pittiglio. "It was a difficult decision to close this location."

All of the staff of the State Street store, including four managers and 12 staff members, will be offered jobs at either the Arborland location (3601 Washtenaw Ave.) or the new Five Guys Burgers and Fries scheduled to open on July 13 in the new Pittsfield Place strip mall on Ann Arbor-Saline Road, according to Pittiglio.

The 1,812-square-foot restaurant at 311 S. State is listed by James Chaconas and Brendan Cavender of Colliers International for $45 per square foot.

Campus-area burger fans won't have far to go satiate their cravings. Elevation Burger opened its second location just around the corner at 529 E. Liberty earlier this month, and nearby Ashley's and Knight's on Liberty also serve superlative hamburgers.

This is the second South State Street restaurant closing announced this week. La Marsa Mediterranean Cuisine, which also opened in 2011, closed its Ann Arbor location this week.

Jessica Webster covers food and dining for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at JessicaWebster@mlive.com. You also can follow her on Twitter and on Google+.