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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Benham’s to continue operating through foreclosure, sheriff’s sale
DAYTON — Benham’s Restaurant and Catering intends to continue operating despite a mortgage foreclosure and upcoming sheriff sale of its building at 209 Warren St.
The holder of the mortgage is Goodwill Easter Seals of Miami Valley, which initiated the mortgage foreclosure in December 2010 and which is interested in bidding on the property at the sheriff sale, Steven Goubeaux, Goodwill Easter Seals’ director of marketing and communications, said today, May 24. The non-profit organization that serves people with disabilities in a 23-county area owns nearby property and wants to buy the Benham’s building to accommodate long-term expansion plans, Goubeaux said.
Goubeaux said Goodwill Easter Seals officials have been working in cooperation with Benham’s owners Bill and Becky Howser, and if the organization is the successful bidder at sheriff’s sale auction, it would allow the restaurant and catering company to continue to operate at the location, perhaps for several years.
“Our goal is for them to do exactly what they do best, which is to run a great restaurant and to serve incredible food,” Goubeaux said.
But Goubeaux cautioned that there is no guarantee that Goodwill Easter Seals will be the high bidder. “If someone is in there to run up the price, we won’t do it,” he said of the purchase. That would leave the Howsers in the position of negotiating with a new landlord about remaining open at that location.
Howser, whose catering company traces its Dayton-area roots to 1934, said the poor economy and changes in the catering industry have combined to hurt his business for the last several years, although business has improved at the restaurant in recent months. For now, “It’s business as usual … we’re not going out of business.”
According to the mortgage foreclosure filed by Goodwill Easter Seals against Benham’s, the Howsers and other creditors in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, the restaurant and catering company is at least $93,600 behind on its mortgage payments — $79,400 in outstanding principal, $11,200 in accrued interest and $3,000 in late fees.
The mortgage began in 1998 as a $220,000 promissory note borrowed by the Howsers from National City Bank (now PNC Bank). PNC Bank sold the mortgage to Goodwill Easter Seals in December 2010, after the Howsers had fallen behind on their payments. Goubeaux said the organization purchased the mortgage from the bank because it was interested in the property.
The non-profit couldn’t work out a deal directly with the Howsers because other individuals hold a second mortgage, and government entities are owed money in the form of tax liens on the property, and all are listed as defendants in the foreclosure lawsuit, Goubeaux said.
The Howsers chose not to file a response to the lawsuit, and Judge Timothy N. O’Connell issued a default judgment in the case March 11 in favor of Goodwill Easter Seals, and ordered the sheriff foreclosure sale on the property and two adjacent parcels to be held on June 17 in the county administration building.
Benham’s Catering has a long history in Dayton, and in 1984, the company catered a private luncheon in Kentucky for Queen Elizabeth II. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and Thursday through Saturday for dinner.
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New Anticoli restaurant sets grand opening
Giuliano, An Anticoli Tavern, which opened last month at 67 S. Main St. in downtown Miamisburg, will celebrate a grand opening with a ribbon-cutting, expanded menu and other specials starting at 4 p.m. June 1.
Leo Anticoli, president of the restaurant, called the restaurant’s first month of business “very successful.” Anticoli — part of a family that traces its Dayton-area restaurant roots to 1931 — is co-owner of Giuliano with his son Chris.
Coinciding with the grand opening, Giuliano will unveil several nightly specials, a daily happy hour from 4-6 p.m., and a handful of new menu items, Anticoli said.
The nightly specials include: on Sunday, children 10 and under eat free from the children’s menu between noon and 7 p.m. when accompanied by a full paying adult. Adults can get 20 percent off all wines by the glass on Sunday. A pasta buffet will be offered on Mondays, and Wednesday will be 35-cent Wing Night.
In addition, customers who patronize Giuliano anytime between June 1 and June 5 will receive a “VIP card” good for 20 percent off every subsequent visit Sunday through Thursday for the following four months, through Oct. 1, 2011.
“It’s our way of saying ‘thank you’ for joining us during our grand opening as we continue an 80-year tradition of food and service to the Miami Valley,” Anticoli said.
Anticoli’s restaurant, and later Caffe Anticoli, operated in the Dayton area in three different locations: from 1931 to 1951, on East Fifth Street in the St. Anne’s Hill District of Dayton; 1951 to 2000 on Salem Avenue in north Dayton; and from 2000 to August 2010 at 8268 N. Main St. in Clayton.
The new tavern, located in the former Chimney’s Inn in downtown Miamisburg, seats about 140, with party room available for an additional 32. The tavern is open for dinner daily, and for lunch on Sundays, although long-term plans call for opening for lunches on weekdays as well. For more information, call (937) 859-3000 or check out the Giuliano Facebook page or its web site.
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