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La Caille restaurant could be sold by the end of the month in a multimillion-dollar deal that could bring to an end the saga of lawsuits, bankruptcy and suicide that has dogged the iconic Utah restaurant.
According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents, Kevin Gates, president of Salt Lake-based 19 Kamaka LLC, has made a $7.5-million offer on the 20-acre cluster of landscaped properties near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon that comprise La Caille.
"The main thing is to keep it as a restaurant," Gates said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "The plan is to keep it as a special piece of property and a special restaurant. It's a diamond in the rough right now."
Gates, a former Salt Lake City native who lives in Las Vegas, has an interest in a hotel in Hawaii and in a restaurant soon to open in San Diego.
The offer is for $10 million, according to bankruptcy court documents, but Gates said he plans to hold off on a $2.5-million purchase of one of the parcels at least until August. In part, that will allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete a remediation of lead contamination at the site, he said.
Blake Miller, bankruptcy attorney for La Caille, confirmed the offer and said it's scheduled for an approval hearing July 26 in bankruptcy court.
Gates said he has no plans to subdivide or develop the property. He isn't planning drastic changes at La Caille, at least initially, and plans to emphasize the wedding and special-events side of the restaurant's business, which he said hasn't been effectively marketed.
"I'll keep the same team in place and evaluate it over the next six months," he said. "It's running about 25 percent of its business from weddings and events. Most of that is from word-of-mouth and the reputation of the La Caille brand. If that's promoted, there's the potential for a lot of business."
David Johnson and Steven Runolfson opened La Caille in 1975 after building the restaurant's stone "chateau." A third partner, Mark Haug, joined the team in the mid-1990s.
In March 2010, a 3rd District Court jury found that Runolfson and Johnson breached their partnership agreement with Haug in an attempt to take control of his share. The $4.7-million award included punitive damages after the jury found that Runolfson and Johnson were behind a "malicious prosecution" scheme that resulted, temporarily, in Haug being charged with purportedly misappropriating La Caille money.
Families of the two original La Caille partners have appealed the jury award, which forced them to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy and put the restaurant up for sale in fall 2010.
In December 2010, the bodies of Runolfson and his wife, Lisa, were found shot dead at the Provo Marriott hotel. A police investigation concluded their deaths were the result of a murder-suicide pact.
Family members maintain the two deaths were a direct result of the massive jury award. "La Caille meant the world — is the world — to our families," the family said in a news release. "The lawsuit instigated by Mr. Haug became an extraordinary personal assault that threatened to destroy that world."