The city of Woodbury and a Stillwater restaurateur, who agreed to work together to build a full-service restaurant in the newly revamped Bielenberg Sports Center, are suing each other after their partnership dissolved in discord.
The main point of disagreement, according to court documents filed in Washington County District Court, is over plans by Gartner Restaurant Holdings (GRH) and owner Greg Gartner to expand the restaurant that was to be part of the expansion and renovation at the sports center — more than doubling the agreed-upon restaurant costs to the city when it signed a lease agreement last August.
Under the seven-year lease, the city agreed to contribute a maximum of $500,000 toward the cost of the restaurant on the sports center's second floor, along with a smaller first-floor concession area. The city's costs were to include more permanent fixtures like a fireplace, freezer, cabinetry and plumbing and heating.
GRH was to fund smaller capital improvements like seating, decor, grills and fryers, estimated to cost $300,000.
The city was to take a share of the restaurant's profits, based on revenues: 12 percent of gross revenues up to $1 million; 10 percent beyond that.
The concession area will be built as planned, and the city plans to explore other options for food service in the second-floor space.
According to the city's suit, GRH steadily added improvements to the plan after the lease was signed, with the new tally of costs presented to city of $1.3 million.
The added costs cover plans to more than double the restaurant's seating capacity from 106 to 235 seats, expanding the fireplace from a $2,500 unit to one costing $66,000, and to increase the overall size from 1,789 square feet to 2,877 square feet.
