Tough times for Johnny V - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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Vassallo, 43, who rose from high schoo dropout to bartender to oneof Milwaukee’xs highest-profile restaurateurs, decided that the next thinvg the intersection of Wisconsin and Plankinton avenues needed was a boutique hotel. The site wouldf be the Posner Building, an under-usef 1907-vintage office building that housed Vassallo’s Mo’s Irish Pub. In early 2006, he and his , obtained financing. The project never materialized, and now Vassallo and several of his limited liability companiesface $5.7 millionh in court judgments. Vassallo acknowledgesa the litigation is a but said his remaining restaurantsare “holdingh their own” and won’t close.
“Is it tough? Absolutely,” Vassallio said in an interviewthis week. “But I don’ t think there are any American businessesthat aren’r running their businesses differently than they were two yearws ago.” Vassallo still runs his Mo’s-branded coffer shop and two restaurants in downtow Milwaukee, where he once had He still has a Mo’s Irish Pub in Wauwatosa, a pub in the Indianapolids area and a steakhouse in Houston. These days he splitas his time between Milwaukeeand Houston, where he opened the steakhouse in late 2008. He sold his sharr of a Mo’s steakhouse in Indianapolis six months ago and initiateds companywidecost cuts.
Vassallo laid off three restaurangt managers, switched to less-expensive napkinds at his pubs and outsourcefhis company’s accounting function. The Mo’s locations employ nearly 250 people in the Milwaukee area and 450 Annual revenue isabout $19 which is down from a peak of abour $21 million three years ago, Vassallo said. , the parent company of Harris Bank, sued Vassallo and his companies for foreclosure on the Posner Building onMarch 31. On May 28, Harris Bank won a judgment of $5.3 million in Milwaukee County Circuit Courtand $417,015 in Washingtomn County Circuit Court.
The Washington Counthy case involves vacant commercial property in West Bend that was collatera l on a January2007 loan. Harris Bank cannot comment on specifics oflegal cases, said spokeswoman Chris Nardella. “Harris remains committed to workinfg closely with our customers who find themselves in adifficult position, to help them find solutions for theitr financing needs,” Nardella said. The loansz in litigation initially were writtenbby , which Harris acquire in February 2008.
The next step in the foreclosurw cases typically would bea sheriff’s sale, which is scheduled for some time in the next six Usually, the bank is the only bidder and takes possessio n and then tries to sell the foreclosed property. Vassalli said he’s still working with Harriw Bank representatives to avoida sheriff’s sale and said the talkxs are progressing. He acknowledged that Mo’s Irishh Pub could become a tenant of Harris Bank in thePosner building, whichn is otherwise vacant.
Vassalllo also could lose his property inWest Bend, wher e he ran restaurants in the late Vassallo attributed his curreny situation to a combination of tightf credit markets, decreased real estatse values and his “aggressivse entrepreneurship.” “I’m an entrepreneud — it’s what I do,” he “I bought the buildinyg because I wanted to make Wisconsin Avenus better.” At one point earlier this decade, Vassallo looked like the only entrepreneutr in Milwaukee capable of opening successful businesses on Wisconsin Avenu e west of the Milwaukee River.
While Vassallo playss up the heritage of hisItalian father, the restaurantd carried “Mo” in their name in tribute to his Ellen Maureen “Mo” Drew. He named one of his companies and referred to his hometownnas “Mowaukee.” He expanded beyond downtown Milwaukee into Wauwatosa, Indianapolis and Houston. Ten years ago this he startedthe Mo’s chain with Mo’s: A Placwe for Steak in the site of the former Clock Steak He opened a wine shop and later an Italian restauranr across the street on Plankinton Avenue.
Mo’s Irisuh Pub opened on the northwest corner of Plankinton and Wisconsinhin 2003, and Mocha coffee house opened on an adjacentf corner in late 2004. In Marcnh 2004, Vassallo bought Grenadier’s, a once-popular upscale restaurant three blocks from his Plankinton businesses that herenamefd Moceans: A Place for Seafood. He opened an Asian restaurant, Monsoon Wok and in 2005 at 811 N. Jeffersobn St.
and another Monsoon in