Lighthouse on Homestead restaurant closes its doors
July 22, 2011 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
The Lighthouse on Homestead, a neighborhood restaurant and bar near the North Shore between Duluth and Knife River, has closed.
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Lighthouse on Homestead restaurant closes its doors
19 Comments
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Business was great but the bank shut them down. We can’t tell you why.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Perhaps the DNT is not covering the drowning any further out of respect for the family who is grieving. If I were grieving the loss of a child, I would not want continued coverage in the paper.
You could do your own investigation and submit it to the paper as a freelance writer if you really feel this family should endure any more coverage of their very heartbreaking tragedy.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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The drowning event got its own front page (online) story. Rather than whine on here about it, why don’t you send your questions directly to the person who reported it? Indeed, this is a different story & is local news.
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Perhaps DNT cutoff comments on the drowning of a child was cutoff because of inappropriate remarks, not because of some perceived cover-up.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Oops. Sorry about my redundant phrasing. Having a bad edit day.
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Can we talk about the piping plovers, please? We didn’t have a good discussion with that.
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*** And you *will* be allowed to comment! ****
Yea, until someone comments how good roast plover is with a good Chianti. And all heck breaks loose.
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Thanks for publishing this story. We actually had plans to eat at the Lighthouse today on our way up the shore. Very disappointed that we won’t be able to.
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This story has its own value. The affected restaurant served a geographically large area, actually – even though the affected population numbers may be low. It is a close-knit community with strong loyalties. This restaurant was the result of a great deal of work among the local people, and filled a need. Good, honest food and no pretenses, fair prices, good service and a high profile location convenient to a high traffic highway. The story suggests that the people connected with the restaurant are willing to discuss why it is closing, but the BANK does not want to disclose any information. Personally, I do not like banks and am giving the bank the stink-eye for being the villain in this story. I suspect that the bank has other plans for this property, that do not include anything to do with the Lighthouse Restaurant, as we know it now.
tom koehler
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First off, a bank did not close the restaurant down, a credit union did! Secondly, the last thing the credit union wants to own is a failed restaurant property. Once any financial institution takes over a property through forclosure the value of the property is seriously diminished. No doubt the credit union will take a serious hit on this deal!
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Fair enough, Ivan M. The story, though, referred to a bank, so I thought it was a bank. Was the Lighthouse a failed restaurant, then? The impression I had was that it was a going concern, and always busy. You got the better of me on both accounts, I guess. If you have information on this story, not published in the paper, is there a more complete account forthcoming, maybe?
tom koehler
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It was a good place. Once while I was there enjoying a meal, I overheard 2 rather large women commenting on the food.
The first large lady said, “The food is terrible!”. The second large lady nodded her head in agreement, and added, “Yes, terrible food, and the portions are much too small.” as she shoveled in another load.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Restaurants can be busy, and still not make any money. Profit margins are so low that even a short slow time or a few “newbie” mistakes can drive a new business into the ground. Banks do not foreclose on properties or call business loans unless 1. they aren’t being paid or 2. the other contract terms aren’t being honored. Good people and good food doesn’t always mean “good business”
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Very sad to hear this. Regardless of the reason why, I always found The Lighthouse a great place to go. The food was always good, the drinks were good, the bar was comfortable and the people there were always sooo nice. It was beginning to have a very nice “neighborhood” feel to it, something that is very much needed up here. It was also nice to come off the lake and be able to park there with the boat. Very sorry to see it go.
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I can’t figure out who gained on this closure. Some of this is assumptions on my part:
1. If this was a SBA loan foreclosed–the SBA would have been better off lowering the interest to 0% to keep it going, by foreclosing they have put 4 familys out of an income plus the loss to the community in addition to several people out of work. The SBA could have at least gotten the principle back by working out a 0% longer term and in the process keep several people with income that they needed since jobs are hard to find.
2. If this was a real estate mortgage held by the credit union, now they (the credit union) has a piece of property that will be nearly impossible to sell given its location and the investment necessary to bring this back to a functional restaurant. As far as selling the property for another purpose, its pretty limited on what this building could be used for—its pretty specific the way the building is laid out that other used will be difficult at best.
Was this a problem that the credit union saw this as a “difficult” mortgage (meaning payments marginal with a struggling business) and needed a cash infusion to the credit union to try and cover up some other not so good financial standing loans and this was a big chunk of cash they could get from SBA to make an auditor happy—similar to what Park State Bank had a couple years back where to many of their loans were in difficult status for some magic number the auditor needed to see—will we soon hear of the same warnings issued to the credit union anyway?
If the credit union gets paid off by the SBA, maybe they will get out what they invested with the sale of the property (if it can sell at all) and come out even. If not then the credit union would have been better off working a deal to at least get the principle back also—and keep several people employed—and maybe even get some good advertising with signage and word of mouth as being an investment partner to keep the place going—thereby picking up some additional customers they don’t currently have, but no they played “strong man” and “proved” they were bigger.
Its a sad sad situation for all involved.
Our government can send Billions of dollars to foreign aid every day/month but they can’t figure out how to help the people of this country—just raise taxes on the people so we can ship more cash overseas.
SAD
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