Restaurant Given Green Light

On the Rocks Gets Green Light

The owner of On the Rocks Patio and Grill has agreed to keep the noise levels down when that restaurant opens in mid-August in the 99-year-old Fayetteville Mercantile Building.

Two city officials who had expressed concern that music from the new restaurant would disturb residents living on West Lafayette Street withdrew their objections before the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division met July 17 to consider an appeal.

On June 19, ABC rejected Wes Cooper’s request for a liquor license based primarily on the objections. Cooper is owner of On the Rocks.

On June 10, an ABC investigator toured the 8,700-SF space currently being renovated for the restaurant.

Don Marr, a Fayetteville City Counsel member who had initially objected to the project, wrote to ABC on July 11 saying he spoke with Cooper on July 1 and “we can work together to coexist.”

Marr said he went to a meeting of the West Lafayette Neighborhood Association that night and told the group he thought Cooper would work with them to keep noise levels within reason.

“I explained to the Neighborhood that I didn’t feel it was appropriate to oppose something that hadn’t even played a note yet,” Marr wrote in his letter to ABC.

Cooper now only has to get a Washington County Health Department inspection and install lighted fire exit signs to appease ABC.

Cooper said the 3,465-SF rooftop deck is scheduled to open about three weeks after the enclosed restaurant does in mid-August.

Van Ngo, who will manage the restaurant for Cooper, said the current plan is to allow only acoustic music on the roof after 10 p.m. nightly. Before that hour, amplified acoustic music will be allowed, but the noise level will be monitored closely so it doesn’t bother the neighbors.

Fayetteville Police Chief Rick Hoyt, who objected to the project at first, also sent a letter to ABC to withdraw his objection.

Hog City Diner Files For Bankruptcy

Hog City Diner Co., a Delaware corporation doing business in Fayetteville, filed for bankruptcy protection July 10 citing $1.77 million in liabilities.

Stanley V. Bond of Fayetteville, attorney for Hog City, said he hadn’t filed a list of assets as of July 25.

“There are very few,” he added.

The filing came 40 days after the restaurant was evicted June 1 from its home in one of Fayetteville’s most historic buildings, the 91-year-old Old Post Office in the center of the downtown square.

Ronald Bumpass, whose family owns the Old Post Office building, said the owners of Hog City were behind on the rent payments.

In the bankruptcy filing, Bond said Hog City owes Bumpass about $1.4 million, which is the balance of rent payments on the building. Hog City had a 10-year lease on the Old Post Office, which would have expired on Sept. 30, 2007.

“It’s Chapter 7,” Bond said of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code filing. “It’s liquidation. They’re done with the business as it stands.”

Michael O’Brien and Michael Watkins opened Hog City Diner on April Fool’s Day in 1998.

A list of equity security holders that was filed with the bankruptcy court showed O’Brien and Watkins as founders of the corporation and owners jointly in 25 percent of Hog City Diner Co.

Other major creditors and amounts being claimed are Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, $152,035 for excise and state payroll taxes; Arkansas Employment Security Division, $11,000 for unemployment taxes; and the Internal Revenue Service, $175,649.

Tusk’s Gets New Pigpen, At Least For Now

Tusk’s Bottling Co. of Fayetteville, which closed in May, has reopened three blocks down Dickson Street from its first location.

Jim Oliver, who owns the bar, said he moved at the end of his first year’s lease from 200 to 518 W. Dickson St. because the rent was too high at the first location. He also has shortened the bar’s name to simply Tusk’s.

The building at 518 W. Dickson St. previously housed a retail craft shop called Whimsicals.

Oliver closed the bar in May and reopened July 20 after renovating the new building.

Ira Coker, who was Oliver’s partner at the first location, said he’s no longer involved with the business, but Oliver said Coker is still a partner in Tusk’s.

Oliver said he may be at the 518 Dickson St. location for only a month, though. Tom Pearson, a Fayetteville lawyer who owns the building and one next door at 520 W. Dickson St., may move Tusk’s to the other location to make way for a “national chain.” The building at 520 W. Dickson St. was previously home to the Dickson Street Diner.

Pearson said nothing is “set in stone yet.” He wouldn’t say who the “national chain” might be, and Oliver said he didn’t know.