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L’Auberge seeks invesetors to keep it open

Owner says restaurant will close Feb. 20 without commitments.

l'Auberge restaurant owner Joseph Reif said Friday he needs investors to keep the restaurant open beyond Feb. 20. Reif said he needs two investors to each put up $55,000 and join two others who have already committed to a survival plan.

File photo l'Auberge restaurant owner Joseph Reif said Friday he needs investors to keep the restaurant open beyond Feb. 20. Reif said he needs two investors to each put up $55,000 and join two others who have already committed to a survival plan.

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By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer 6:35 PM Friday, February 10, 2012

KETTERING — L’Auberge restaurant owner Joseph Reif announced via email to customers Friday that he is seeking investors to keep the restaurant operating beyond Feb. 20.

Reif said he has “nearly exhausted all resources” and needs two investors to put up $55,000 apiece to join two others who have already committed to a survival plan.

“I still believe that even in the last hour, two additional investors can be found. But if not there will be nothing left but to say goodbye and leave as graciously and with as much dignity as possible,” Reif wrote. “If I do not find the investors, our last day will be Feb. 20th.”

In his email, Reif cited the poor economy, the loss of corporate headquarters from the Dayton region, and the opening of at least 57 new restaurants across the Miami Valley in recent years as factors that have adversely impacted l’Auberge. But the restaurant never lowered its standards, Reif said, and “ ... this uncompromising commitment to delivering the best has also added to our financial difficulties.” The restaurant earned a coveted four-star Mobil rating the first year it was eligible and held that high rating for 19 years until 2002.

The restaurant has been struggling financially for at least two years. In June 2010, Lebanon Citizens National Bank filed a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, claiming it had been about four months since it had received its last mortgage payment on three loans it had made to the restaurant. At the time, the bank said it was owed more than $1.6 million.

In August 2011, attorneys for l’Auberge and the bank reached an 11th-hour agreement that canceled a scheduled sheriff’s sale of the building and property. The agreement was designed to allow Reif to stay in possession of the restaurant and to bring in investment partners.

In his email, Reif said he and founding partner Dieter Krug bought l’Auberge with the help of several investors in 1978 for $675,000, and over the next 32 years invested more than $3 million in additions and renovations. In 2005, Reif said, the l’Auberge building and property were appraised at $3.1 million. But in November 2011, a court-ordered appraisal set the value of the property and building at $888,000, up from $825,000 five months earlier. The building and property are now for sale, Reif said.

L’Auberge has survived even as other highly credentialed fine-dining restaurants such as King Cole in downtown Dayton and the Maisonette in Cincinnati have been forced to close.

To read the full text of Reif’s email, go to www.daytondailynews.com/go/taste.

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