Attorney: Landlord Refused to Accept Blind Pig's Rent Checks

The Blind Pig's landlord—that'd be SP Holdings, headed by Meat owner Peyton Ray—"refused to accept rent checks for June through August in a bid to evict the restaurant," the Blind Pig's attorney, Steve Porter told WRDB 41.

On Monday, Blind Pig lost an eviction case SP Holdings filed against it. As a result, yesterday the Butchertown gastropub's chef/owner Joseph Frase announced his restaurant would close on Saturday. Frase later told the Louisville Courier-Journal, "I'm not sure what's going to happen now," citing a possible solution that SP Holdings said it might propose.

As of 2 p.m. today, however, Frase has not heard anything from Ray or his representatives.

"The Blind Pig owes its landlord $37,318 representing five months' back rent, late fees and insurance," WDRB 41 reported. "Porter said the rent dispute started on May 31 when Frase mailed a check due the next day, June 1, to Ray's personal PO Box. The check was returned as undeliverable two weeks later because the envelope was addressed to SP Holdings and not to Ray, Porter said."

Here's the rest of the backstory—again—about what's happening with these two popular Butchertown spots (it's largely a copy and paste from earlier stories):

In early April, Meat abruptly announced its temporary closure. A week later, Meat's owner Peyton Ray said a dispute with the Blind Pig involving liquor licensing was the reason. Meat had been "depending on the liquor license of the guys downstairs," Ray said at the time. "Unfortunately, our relations with the guys downstairs deteriorated so much and so quickly that they finally, the other day, just turned off the lights, locked the doors, turned off the water." (Frase disagreed with Ray's allegations but declined to comment further at the time.)

Meat then applied for its own liquor license. Back in April, Ray had said he'd "probably find out more on the status of our [alcohol] license application" on the date of the Blind Pig's hearing—which had been scheduled for May 16, but was later rescheduled to Aug. 13 and then pushed back again to Sept. 30. "We're fully planning on reopening, we just don't know when that's going to be—it could be at the latest, July," Ray said at the time Meat closed.

After the Blind Pig agreed to pay $2,500 in fines to resolve the case, however, Ray did not respond to a request for comment about Meat's status.

In another twist to the story, Ray purchased the building that Meat shares with the Blind Pig, in May, a transaction that surprised Frase.
·All Meat Coverage [~ELOU~]
·All Blind Pig Coverage [~ELOU~]

[Photos: Courtesy Blind Pig and Zach Everson]