YOU CAN STOP right here if you’ve heard this story before. L’Attitude is closing down yet again.
The restaurant/bar’s 32 employees got the word Monday. It’ll be shutting its doors…temporarily, we hope…this weekend.
It’ll re-open….well, we’re not quite sure when. Best case? Within a couple of months. Worst case? Let’s not even go there.
Here’s what happened. Restaurateurs Joe Constance and Jill Hayes, who’ve been managing L’Attitude for the last several months, signed a purchase agreement with the building owner Steve Nagelkirk about a month ago. Nagelkirk, whose interests lie in his growing landscaping business, wanted out, even at a loss, and Constance and Hayes were thrilled to acquire it.
They’d be taking over an underperforming business in one of the best locations in Marquette.
So…the deal was all set to close, likely by the end of the year.
Until it was discovered that Nagelkirk’s minority partner (an unnamed Floridian) apparently had the power to squelch the deal if he wasn’t happy with it. Turns out, he wasn’t happy with the deal and he’s now trying to squelch the deal.
So it’s off for now, until Nagelkirk and his partner, or the courts or the bank, resolve the dispute.
It’s a mess, in other words, for everybody involved, including the 32 employees who just got word that they’ll be jobless within a few days.
It’s a shame, as well, for Constance and Hayes who’ve already invested money in transforming L’Attitude into the Iron Bay Restaurant and Drinkery. They’ve got the new signs, they’ve installed new TV’s, they’ve designed a new fireplace for the interior, they’re about to order fire pits for the outside, they’ve bought new art and historical photos, they’re redoing the menu (again), and they were planning on opening for breakfast.
And they were forging partnerships with other businesses in town to convert the back area into a special events room known as Main Event.
Big plans. Big excitement. But now everything’s on hold. And L’Attitude goes dark…again.
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