Blind Pig Closing Saturday After Losing Eviction Case...Or Maybe It's Not Closing

Having lost an evection case with its landlord on Monday, chef/owner Joseph Frase announced yesterday via a post on Louisville Hot Bytes that the Blind Pig would close this Saturday. In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal later in the day, however, Frase was less certain about the Butchertown gastropub's shuttering: "I'm not sure what's going to happen now," he said, citing a possible solution that emerged with the Blind Pig's landlord, SP Holdings.

Reached last night via text, Frase said he was still waiting to hear about a possible compromise SP Holdings wanted to propose and might have more details to share this afternoon.

SP Holdings is headed by Peyton Ray. Ray is also the owner of the temporarily shuttered Meat, which resided above the Blind Pig at 1076 E. Washington St. Meat and Blind Pig had been involved in a dispute over liquor licensing—namely Meat was illegally piggybacking on Blind Pig's license, a case which was resolved last week when the Blind Pig agreed to pay the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control $2,500 in fines.

In the eviction case, SP Holdings claimed that the Blind Pig had breached its lease agreement, failing to pay its monthly rent of $5,895 in June, July and August 2013. SP Holdings filed its first petition for and writ of forcible entry and detainer on June 21 with the Jefferson County District Court, saying it gave Blind Pig notice to vacate on June 14—just over a month after SP Holdings bought the property. SP Holdings filed a second petition for and writ of forcible entry and detainer on Aug. 21, claiming it gave Blind Pig additional notices to vacate on July 30 and Aug. 6.

Download a .PDF of the first petition for and writ of forcible entry and detainer here and the second one here.

SP Holdings, Charles Peyton Ray III, member, purchased the building Meat shared with Blind Pig on May 10 for $525,000. The property was not publicly listed for sale at the time. Andy Blieden, manager of BLAMS, LLC, the building's previous owner, wouldn't comment on the transaction, citing a confidentially agreement he claimed to have signed with SP Holdings. Ray's only remark at the time was issued through a spokesperson: "They're very excited about the opportunity. They've been very interested in the renewal project of Butchertown, as well as the revitalization."

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 an earlier story, so if you've already read it, feel free to resume working on your application to be Eater Louisville's new editor):

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.
·All Meat Coverage [~ELOU~]
·All Blind Pig Coverage [~ELOU~]

[Photos: Courtesy Blind Pig and Zach Everson]