ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
THE AIRPORT ROAD restaurant has left some people wondering what will happen to their deposits.
La Maison, a longtime restaurant on Airport Road that was also a popular site for weddings, closed its doors for good this week. The old Coulter mansion that housed the restaurant was contracted Tuesday for auction.
Jim Woltz of Woltz & Associates, who will sell the propertythis spring, said the owner is concerned that people with dining and catering reservations are unaware of the restaurant's demise.
La Maison became a popular site for weddings from the entire East Coast area after it was featured in a bridal magazine, he said.
The owner of the property, Rance Marianetti of Roanoke, is concerned that customers may lose deposits that they have paid on future parties, according to Woltz. The restaurant may also have had dining reservations for the upcoming Valentine's Day weekend as well.
The news spread quickly. One woman who called The Roanoke Times but declined to be identified said she had paid a deposit of $750 for her daughter's wedding in June.
She said she had heard rumors that the restaurant was in trouble, but La Maison's operator assured her that, because of his health, he was selling the business to a successor who would keep it open and honor all contracts. That was at the end of last month.
"I don't know what recourse I have," she said.
The restaurant operator, Thomas Taylor, turned over the keys to Marianetti after the close of business Saturday night, Woltz said. He said Taylor was a longtime manager of La Maison who signed a lease-purchase agreement for the property last May.
A. Carter Magee Jr., a lawyer representing Marianetti, said Taylor had been unable to obtain the financing to carry out the contract. Taylor also failed to make payments on the property's debts, Magee said, resulting in lawsuits and claims against Marianetti.
Magee said Marianetti, who owns the property under the name of Lone Wolf Enterprises Inc., has been sued by the property's former owner, NW Associates. The latter is a partnership between Jeff Newbern and Michael Warner of Roanoke.
NW is seeking judgment on a $70,000 note still owed on the property. When Lone Wolf answers that suit, Magee said, the company may bring in Taylor as a party to the action.
He said Lone Wolf is 90 days behind on another debt for $490,000 it owes The Money Store.
Magee said Lone Wolf wants to sell at auction so he can pay off the two noteholders, but he said the property owner is not responsible for the debts and deposits owed by Taylor. "His dog's not in that hunt," Magee said.
Woltz said the house, built by the late Murray Coulter in 1928, has three stories and a basement. The house has about 6,000 square feet and sits on a tract of more than four acres.
Woltz said the two lots and the equipment could be put back together for another restaurant. The brochures also will offer the site for potential office space, with the land available for manufacturing.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: FILE FEB. 1978. La Maison was housed in Roanoke'sby CNBCoulter mansion for about 19 years. KEYWORDS: JOBCHEK