Company moves forward with expansion as lawsuits pile up
Why wait for Sunday brunch when you can enjoy eggs benedict — or Fruity Pebbles French toast or a mimosa — on a Saturday night or Tuesday afternoon?
That was the insight behind the first Place 2 Be restaurant, which opened on Franklin Avenue in Hartford’s South End in 2016.
Novice restaurateur Gina Luari hit upon a hot concept that took off postpandemic, with the eatery’s Instagram-worthy decor making it popular with younger diners and trend-seekers alike.
Starting in 2020, Luari opened four more Place 2 Be restaurants in two years: downtown Hartford in 2020, West Hartford in 2021, and New Haven and Springfield, Mass., in 2022.
Under the auspices of her company, The Statement Group, Luari also launched new restaurant concepts, with Raw* seafood bar opening in downtown Hartford in 2023.
Along with new Place 2 Be locations in Dallas and Las Vegas, Statement plans two more Hartford restaurants in the coming year, to be called Charred and Graze. Also on tap is a bakery in West Hartford and a casual Mediterranean restaurant in Glastonbury.
More than 300 people currently work for Statement Group restaurants, up from 50 only two years ago.
But The Statement Group’s businesses are under increasing scrutiny as court filings pile up accusing the company of failing to pay rent and contractors. Six lawsuits have been filed in two states in recent months involving nearly all of the group’s eateries.
Luari tells of a string of bad luck that has afflicted her business: Floods, fires, as well as contractor and landlord troubles. The rapid expansion of The Statement
Group and post-pandemic delays in construction have led to a spate of crises that most restaurant groups would experience over decades, she said.
“Things that might have happened to people over the course of 30 years have really happened to me in the last two,” Luari said. “Through every disaster and catastrophe and theft and break-ins in New Haven and all of these things I’ve recovered each and every time, and I’ve never closed my door.”
It all started with a flood — a pipe that burst in 2020 at the Place 2 Be location in downtown Hartford, on the ground floor of 5 Constitution Plaza facing Kinsley Street. “It was like a lake in here,” Luari said of the resulting flooding in the basement, which forced the restaurant to close for several days.
That was followed by a sprinkler malfunction that caused a second round of flooding in March of 2022, then a fire started by a discarded cigarette in a dumpster that cost $500,000 in damages. Water seepage continued to be a problem at the location, Luari said, culminating in a shin-deep flood in July of 2023. Insurance had been covering some losses, Luari said, but a claim in 2023 was denied due to alleged inaction by the landlord.
By October of last year, Luari said she stopped paying rent until the landlord addressed ongoing flooding issues and the insurance claims.
“I needed a solution to the flooding. I needed a solve, and I wasn’t getting any of that,” Luari said.
The building’s landlord, Hartford-based Lexington Partners, alleged in a January lawsuit from its subsidiary, 5CP Master Tenant, LLC, that the Statement Group had failed to respond to notices on late rent, nor would it work with Lexington on resolving insurance issues. As of April, unpaid rent at the location totaled $79,768, Lexington Partners said in a statement. The case is ongoing.
Media coverage of the downtown Hartford rent dispute led to the next challenge, Luari said, involving the bakery planned for West Hartford’s Blue Back Square, across the street from the Place 2 Be location.
Delays in construction caused the bakery’s opening to extend beyond the deadline in Statement Group’s initial lease, which led to another lawsuit (also ongoing) when the landlord bumped up payments after reading reports of the Statement Group’s Hartford woes.
Luari said she expects to sign a new agreement next week and the Bakery at the Place 2 Be will open later in the year. Blue Back Square representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
The New Haven location’s landlord also sued over rent payments, a dispute since settled after Place 2 Be New Haven stipulated to make monthly payments.
The Place 2 Be location in Springfield was also accused of failing to pay rent in a lawsuit filed in January alleging that the restaurant owed $32,709 in back rent.
Luari said the Statement Group has since worked out a payment plan for its back rent in Springfield.
An attorney for the landlord, Springfield Riverfront Development Corp., did not return a request for comment.
Nonprofit, contractors allege nonpayment
Another lawsuit, filed in February by Hartfordbased business nonprofit Hedco, alleged that Place 2 Be stopped making payments on a $150,000 loan for four months in late 2023, but Hedco withdrew the suit against Place 2 Be New Haven in March.
Hedco mistakenly tried to withdraw funds from the wrong account, Luari said.