A downtown Wilmington French restaurant that began operating about eight months ago has closed its doors and owes its landlord more than $16,500.
Since September 2018, an operator of Margaux at 902 N. Market St. near Rodney Square has failed to pay rent, electric and sewer bills and late fees to its landlord Delaware Trust Rehabilitation LLC, according to a complaint filed by attorney Jeffrey M. Weiner on Feb. 15 in Wilmington's Superior Court.
Monthly rent for Margaux is $4,500, and various bills due include an August-September electric bill for $1,213.13, a $644.58 water/sewer bill from July-August, and a $225 January late fee, according to a letter from Delaware Trust Rehabilitation LLC Lease Administrator Laura Alvarez that is included in court documents.
As of Feb. 4, no payment for $16,522, the total amount owned, had been received from owner Karim Hammouchene, who operates Margaux under the SK Restaurant LLC, the complaint says.
Margaux is located in the bottom floor of the former Delaware Trust building, now known as The Residences at Rodney Square. The 13-story, Classical Revival building, on the National Register of Historic Places, is owned by The Buccini/Pollin Group.
The agent for Delaware Trust Rehabilitation LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is Robert E. Buccini.
According to the court complaint, Margaux signed a lease for the 4,660-square-foot, ground-floor space at 902 N. Market St. beginning December 2016 through November 2026.
The 10-year lease was amended in July 2017 with the new dates of August 2017 through July 2027, the complaint says.
When Margaux failed to pay its rent, it breached its lease agreement, according to the court complaint.
If the current payment owed is not received, the landlord said it would immediately seek payment of $690,673.32, or rent from February 2019 through July 2027.
Margaux appears to have closed earlier this month. Its Facebook page has been deleted. A voicemail message at the restaurant says it is not set up to receive calls. Hammouchene could not be reached immediately for comment.
When contacted by The News Journal on Jan. 29 regarding whether the restaurant was permanently shuttered, a person operating Margaux's Facebook page messaged back that the restaurant was still operating and had been closed a day earlier "for a private work event."
Margaux has had a rocky tenure and lukewarm reception from patrons since its opening in June 2018. During visits, the 72-seat dining room sometimes had few patrons. The cost of dinner entrees initially ranged from about $20 to $38.
Before undergoing renovations to become Margaux, the historic space had been sitting empty for at least five years. It had previously housed several other fleeting restaurants.
Former manager Soufiane Lalani, who helped open the brasserie, initially was the face and spokesman for Margaux.
Lalani told The News Journal in 2018 he had never operated a restaurant before. He said he was a partner in the business and had teamed with his childhood friend Karim Hammouchene, whom he grew up with in their native Morocco.
Lalani said more than $400,000 was spent on renovations and some of the spare-no-expenses decor included a Jonathan Adler Sputnik Chandelier that retails for about $2,000.
Lalani told The News Journal he had many doubters and wanted to prove them wrong.
"What drives me is when people say 'That's not going to work,'" Lailani said.
Lalani was replaced with a new manager in October 2018. Hammouchene told The News Journal in an interview that Lailani had "never been a partner."
In October 2018, Hammouchene said he wanted to reboot Margaux as a more casual establishment and was looking forward to opening the next-door creperie which would also feature French sandwiches.
"It's coming soon, but we don't have an exact date yet. We're just trying to restart the whole business from scratch," Hammouchene said in October 2018.
The creperie never opened.
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/food/2019/02/25/wilmington-french-restaurant-owes-16-522-landlord-months-after-opening/2977887002/ 2019-02-25 17:38:00Z
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