Palace Theatre sues Wrecktangle Pizza for $1.6M over St. Paul restaurant

The Palace Theatre in downtown St Paul is suing Wrecktangle Pizza over the short-lived Wrestaurant at the Palace claiming that the Detroit-style pizza makers still owe the theater upwards of million more than a year after their joint restaurant venture shut down Wrestaurant opened in early fall in the spot formerly home to Wild Tymes but quietly closed about a year later amid extensive water damage to its building which had been purchased in early by now-troubled Madison Equities while restaurant plans were in the works First Avenue which co-manages the Palace Theatre opened a new restaurant called the Palace Pub in the location this summer Unlike Wrestaurant the Palace Pub is fully operated by First Avenue operations director Marc Dickhut noted at the time Wrestaurant earned plaudits when it opened for its creative menu and modern redesigned interior The Palace Pub for its part looks quite similar to its predecessor in decor and now offers a more casual bar-fare menu and a selection of arcade games In a lawsuit filed in Hennepin County Court last week the operators of the Palace Theatre which owned percent of the restaurant to Wrecktangle s percent claim that they agreed in to front money for both their own and Wrecktangle s portions of startup and operating costs a total financing the theater estimates at around million That loan for Wrecktangle s portion was fully guaranteed by Wrecktangle co-owner Alex Rogers according to court filings However the lawsuit asserts none of that loan has been repaid With interest and other fees attached the Palace suggests in their lawsuit that Wrecktangle owes an amount to be proved at trial but reasonably deduced to be in excess of Neither Rogers nor a representative of First Avenue responded to requests for additional information Friday For its part in a response to the lawsuit filed in court this week Wrecktangle appears to admit to not having made payments on the loan but countered that it is the Palace in fact that has failed to uphold part of the deal In its own filing Wrecktangle says that the Palace never properly dissolved the joint LLC behind the restaurant nor took over Wrecktangle s percent ownership interest and has continued to use equipment purchased by the joint LLC to now operate the Palace Pub The theater Wrecktangle says in its filing has not financially credited the pizza company for profits and losses made using equipment in which it still has an ownership stake which Wrecktangle characterized as a bad-faith move that calls into question the validity of the Palace lawsuit In response the Palace denied these claims reiterated its insists of Wrecktangle s own wrongdoing and noted that the Palace Pub has yet to turn a profit From here unless they reach a settlement in the meantime both Wrecktangle and the Palace have tentatively agreed to go to trial in November Related Articles Maplewood gunman sentenced for shooting at car while kids cowered nearby Jury convicts nd man in Coon Rapids triple murder rd sexual assault affair against former Bethel football competitor dismissed St Paul asks for pause on million suit over building permits Woodbury man gets years in federal prison for extorting minors after coercing sexually explicit videos