Hoping to keep the lights on for Twins fans and to stave off a growing list of creditors, the owners of the Hooters restaurant on Block E have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Co-owner John Marso said in documents filed March 31 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minneapolis that the Block E Hooters owes $1.8 million to more than a dozen creditors, including bankers, lawyers, food vendors, satellite TV operators and Hooters gear merchandisers.
Its largest creditors are North American Banking Co., which it owes more than $1.2 million, and its landlord, Block E Realty, which Hooters says it owes $439,910.
Hooters also has failed to pay $35,000 in sales and other taxes to the state, $50,000 to the law firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard, and more than $23,000 to Sysco Foods in St. Paul.
Block E Realty sued the restaurant's owners in Hennepin County District Court in January and sought to have them evicted. The landlords claim Hooters hasn't paid rent for a year and a half. Given the bankruptcy filing, a Hennepin County district judge on Monday dismissed the eviction case.
Marso and his brother, Steven, operate the franchise as Twin Wings of Minneapolis. They own another Hooters in Burnsville that is delinquent on nearly $48,000 in property taxes for 2009. The brothers closed a St. Cloud Hooters in January 2009.
Hooters has been in its skyway location at the corner of Hennepin Avenue S. and N. 6th Street since July 2006. Some city officials and taxpayers, including Mayor R.T. Rybak, said the restaurant didn't fit the family-friendly atmosphere once envisioned for the area. The block was redeveloped with a $38.5 million city subsidy.
The Marso brothers claim that Block E's owners failed to deliver on promises to keep the building occupied, and that hoped-for traffic from Target Center across the street never materialized.
Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335
