The following is a rhetorical question and requires no response from inhabitors of the Comments Section…
Like they give a darn about what I think, but here goes.
In what amounts to another confusing turn of events, it appears that American Century has green-lighted its leasing agents to open the bidding for the closed-since-last fall jazz club known as Jardine’s.
Giving the appearance that the dudes who leapt into the media spotlight last fall – Messrs. Robert McCain and Joseph FulgenzI – have failed to do what they reportedly told the Pitch and Fox 4 three months back; that they’d they secured and finalized a deal to buy the fabled Plaza area jazz club.
The latest?
According to Jardine’s suitor Paul Wilson the leasing agent for Jardine’s space got the "first proactive call" from leasing agent Scott Padon late last week, saying, "He just got (the) green light from the attorneys to market the space."
Prior to that Wilson was having a hard time getting any answers from the landlord’s reps, who according to several sources had done its due diligence on McCain and Fulgenzi’s "backers" and were hoping to see the sale of the business and other details with beleaguered Jardine’s owner Beena Raja and founder Greg Halstead.
You may recall that McCain and Fulgenzi made Raja’s $1,200 monthly January payment on Raja’s note to Halstead in order to keep their buying game afoot. However they – along with Raja – missed the February and March payments, appearing to give Halstead the right to foreclose on Raja’s note and to sell off the remaining physical assets of Jardine’s.
However several sources say that as late as last week McCain and Fulgenzi continued to try and work something out with Raja’s attorney.
Raja and McCain could not be reached for this column and Halstead declined to comment.
So what’s next?
"I have no idea," says former Jardine’s co-owner Pat Hanrahan, who has been in ongoing discussions with McCain, Raja and Halstead. Discussions that seemed to indicate that once a deal was struck Hanrahan would help manage and/or operate the new Jardine’s.
"I know Paul Wilson is still interested," Hanrahan says. "And I know other people are still interested."
Including McCain and Fulgenzi?
"From what I hear yes," Hanrahan says. "But I haven’t talked to them (lately)."
Hanrahan’s best guess on the current status of the two dude’s efforts to procure Jardine’s:
"I think American Century got tired of waiting on them. I think everybody got tired of waiting on them. You know, they’d go weeks at a time without anybody being able to reach them. I’ve been trying to get ahold of them since last Monday and they haven’t returned my calls.
"And I know they had a long conversation with Beena’s attorney late last Monday afternoon. And I thought – and what most people thought – was that the attorneys were working out the wording for a final agreement."
And that’s the name of this weary tune…for now.
The Jardine Identity.
“”I think American Century got tired of waiting on them. I think everybody got tired of waiting on them. You know, they’d go weeks at a time without anybody being able to reach them.”
Maybe they are spies, or were another bleak result from the secret “Blackbriar” project.
Now for the Paul Wison “Ultimatum”.
But seriously, your in the middle of buying a reastaurant, and, ya don’t answer the phone for “weeks”???
“Dude, boot the gong, Beena was smoking our chronic in that last “Notice to Quit” paperwork.”
“Ok, WHOA! I was sleeping on my cell phone and it says T&TA on my forehead now… whoa, thats heavy. Hey! I got a 142 messages.”
Now for the Paul Wison “Ultimatum”
Chuck, you’re funny!! We now rule this site, no matter what Harley says. He’s suffering from the Craig Stardom Disorder, however I’ve found some areas to admire Craig, of late.
The Paul Wilson (which also includs Chelle as an equally important part of the plan) ultimatum, is actually what my original business plan was to make this a viable proposition; everyone defaults and falls to the wayside. I just didnt expect that to take 4 months for it to happen. Best laid plans and all that…….
Stay tuned. It will get real interesting or go no where real fast would be my guess. I said from day one the boys wouldn’t take it over and…. they didnt. And won’t. Nothing against them, I just think it was a faulty plan with dubious intentions from the beginning.
Any interested parites who have vaible comment, interest or input can find me any time: paulwilsonkc@gmail.com
Don’t worry Paul, you’ve been pretty clear of your intentions to lowball the owners of Jardine’s. You may just end up with a supper club filled with queenies playing music from a bygone era after all.
Interesting take, Riot Room South…
wrong, but interesting.
The “owners” of Jardines (which I assume you’re one of) did what they did on their own, no assistance needed. Kind of hard to blame me for that. But like Craig, I’ll stand up and take it with a smile on my face. That was a great space fillied with great people, in the form of employees and great people in the form of musicians making it happen for a very long time. They each and every one practiced their art from the heart. There was only one problem in the whole equation, later in its life.
Some times its better to start from scratch, thats not lowballing, its using good business sense if you’re going to take on the upside risk while being a good steward to your and investors money. And trust me, theres more risk there than anyone needs.
I can’t help what happened looking backwards, that wasn’t under my control. But, hey, thanks for the input, its much appreciated.
PS, Riot Room South…
….I don
lowballing?
I don’t understand how what Paul is doing is lowballing. It would make no sense to pay 10s of thousands for the rights to the name, 10s of thousands of back rent, 10s of thousands in installment payments, back pay to employees etc. If that place could make back that much revenue quickly enough for that to be a good investment, it would have never ended up how it did in the first place. What he is doing is probably the only viable way to reopen Jardine’s and keep it open. It is not his fault that the place owed more than it was worth. I wish him good luck and hope he gets it and does well.
Mike = a voice of reason
in a sea of no name commenters who, clearly, have never bought, sold, turned around, ran or started a business. Thank you sir.
There’s a lot more to this than memorizing the phrase “would you like that super sized?”, which, sadly, is the background of some arm chair quarterbacks.
Regarding the ‘two dudes’, when employees were looking for their paychecks would they ‘go weeks at a time without anybody being able to reach them’?
Mike is right.
.
Chuck is right saying Mike is right
Harley must be in the Caymans again, he’s not commented. He’s got a full time job trying to spend all his money.
Mike is right!
Mike is one of the more intelligent people that comment on this post…. kudos to him.. need to meet this guy.. we seem to have a lot in common….he always seems to make sense…
to paul
Don’t try to “call me out”, you don’t have a leg to stand on. Until Hearne disables anonymous comments, I can post under whatever moniker I want. I owe you or anybody else nothing. Personally I think you are a fool posting with your full name on a gossip website. You will learn. You’d think a director at Sprint would be a bit more internet savvy.
And yes, you were and are lowballing. You kept making flippant remarks on this website throughout the whole process that the longer they wait, the lower your offer gets. That is a classic lowballing technique to get people to make a rash decision. You also previously stated in other threads that given the right ownership group, Jardine’s is an easy moneymaker. If it is an easy moneymaker, then you should already have a number in your head that you want to pay. Going significantly below that because the buyer is desperate is the definition of lowballing.
I hope you open your little supper club. Maybe then you can get all those super smart Sprint people together- probably would fill a room about the size of Jardine’s. All I ever knew from that campus were yes-men, never-were-men, and directional state grads hired below market rate. But hey you are a hell of a director. That stock must be in the single digits now.
So microwave the bruchetta, pop the cheap Zinfindel, and have someone sing Mammy while the front door is open for the Trio crowd.
That is, if you have the highest of the low balls.
Riot Room South
“Riot Room South” is the head of a dick.
paulwilsonkc is right in saying that chuck is right about mike being right.
Not Harley
reply to rrs
There is also a sellers technique where you say many people are interested in buying what you have to sell to create a sense of urgency in the buyer and Paul didn’t fall for it. Early on, it was stated that many people were lining up competing to buy Jardine’s. What happened to all of them?
Riot, you’re a riot, now let me asplain some things to you
1. I wasn’t attempting to call you out, you would have known had that been my intent.
2. I use my REAL name because I have nothing to hide. It
2000 words and nothing interesting to say. Thanks for correcting me that a jazz club doesn’t actually play Al Jolsen standards. And you are lowballing. Feel free to do it, but don’t try to claim you aren’t doing anything but bottom feeding (will resist the urge to make a Trio joke here). There is no more Jardine’s, you are not buying Jardine’s as they don’t own the building. You are buying a collection of restaurant equipment that is located inside what used to be Jardine’s. And I am well aware that you are not at Sprint, as you are frequently post your resume here. You could not buy Jardine’s on a director’s salary, as they pay so far below market rate. Good luck on “consulting”, there sure are a lot of Sprint people that say they are “consulting” now a days. But you are a mover and shaker who is sure to put this little club “back on the map”. Be sure to tweet out when you get your first customer under 50!
Riot, that doesnt even justify a reply
“Jardines” is still for sale. You can still buy “Jardines”, the name, lease the space and own the content. There are 3 total people interested in this. All three would re-open it as Jardines.
Thanks, Im late for lunch at Trio and have to go now.
And, I’m no longer consulting. That was 1 business ago. Rode it as long as it lasted, made hay while the sun shined, moved on when it died. I will resist a cut and paste of my resume. This was 90 words and no more interesting, I’m sure.
Sincerely,
Harley
Why
so bitter mr. riot room south? Last time I checked to make a high offer on a business that is in the middle of sorting out possible legal problems/can’t offer up financial info to potential buyers/currently shuttered was bad business. Can’t hate the business player, baby. Nobody goes into business to go out of it quickly.
Sounds like paul has the right idea, I don’t comprehend the hate.
Dude, youre as smart as Chuck and Smartman!
There’s always hate and discontent in the face of someone trying to better themselves, don’t tell me you haven
Paul you’ve hardly been as consistent on this as you’re making it seem: I suggested months ago to just wait for Jardine’s to default and at the time you said you wanted to keep it classy. Mike has a good point but so does RRS: I think where this crosses the line from waiting for business conditions to lowballing is when you make it public, not just once but many times in the comments here, especially when you know it’ll likely be read by the parties involved. For idle commenters like myself who have no intention of getting involved in the business it doesn’t really matter but in your case it’s starting to give an appearance of impropriety and I think RRS has picked up on that. Lowballing probably isn’t the right word but I can’t come up with anything more appropriate at the moment.
“all good points, expat
paulwilsonkc 06:28:45 PM – Tue. Jan 10. 2012
…but we do have some other concerns.
Preservation of the name, there are ownership issues there that need to be addressed.
Contents and fixtures, no need to duplicate that if you dont have to.
Licenses that are really hard to obtain when starting fresh that are easier when you do a transfer.
… and then, there’s people involved we think need to be made whole one some things.
Karma pays you both ways, I’m a proponent of staying on the positive side of that quotient.
Still, you make a valid point.”
Regarding karma, if I was a potential business partner and looked up your posts here I would have to think carefully about dealing with you. Then again maybe this is just your hobby and you have no real intention of buying Jardine’s. I don’t mean to debate business strategy with you I’m just presenting this as the observation of a disinterested third-party — feel free to take it or leave it.
Still: all good points, expat
I’m not above constructive criticism, expat, and you do make some valid observations. On the other hand, there
One other thought, expat
its been a long 4 months chasing this around the twists and turns. Frankly, it wears on you. As I said, there are only a handful of people who know what this process has REALLY been like, behind the scenes.
My apologies if I crossed the line you mentioned in any way that offended anyone. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of being worn thin by the process, but no ill intent at any point in time. Thanks again.
Thanks paul for keeping it serious
Since all I have to go on are comments here there is certainly a lot I’m missing out on. Believe it or not I used to handle negotiations for a financial company so I am naturally wary of anything that seems like open strategizing. Then again I wouldn’t envy anyone involved in this mess, and in the grand scheme of things it probably won’t make a difference to the fate of Jardine’s anyway.
Oh, expat, Im not too sure….
Im jaded enough to think you can ALWAYS make a difference but not STUPID enough to fall in love with the “idea” and jump in head first seeing nothing but roses and rainbows!! I think you can always make a difference and I think it can be saved. The difference is, back when I thought it would crash and burn the end of December, I was counting on 90 days operating capital to let it get back up on its feet and running. Since that time, some things have made it harder, some roadblocks have been lifted and make it easier. Easier, however, does not equate to EASY!! Im sure you know that having the background you do!
So, as I said, theres been no itent to “steal” anything and its been a lifestyle judgement. What do you trade off and for how long are you willing to do it? I’d like to see it saved and provide an asset for down the road to make up for some sins of the past. Likely no one here has ever been cleaned out by a divorce and woke up at 50 trying to figure out where retirement is coming from, right? No, I didnt think so… figured I was all alone on that one……
Fair enough
What I meant was that hard work, capital and sound management will make a difference, but comments on a news site probably won’t amount to much in the long term. Unless RRS was a prospective investor…
that sums it up perfectly, expat
Thanks for your input. And while I’ve had a lot of investor interest, something tells me RSS isn’t one of them!
Expat said it better than I could, public gestures on here do give the appearance of impropriety. You said and I believe you when you say that you are an honest person as we have had many good convos here under my other screen name.
As for me, I am not an interested investor. There is no greater hell than being a minority investor in a closely held corporation. Plus I am still a wage slave, albeit a well paid one and I would not be able to put in the time necessary to ever see a return.
I’ve seen too many people lose their shirts in the restaurant business, and I won’t even go into the financial ruin I’ve seen come of the nightclub business.
Good luck with the business. If you are going to buy the place I would suggest doing both Blues and Jazz. We don’t have a decent blues club that is easy to get to (Knuckleheads is great but not convenient, BBs is convenient but the Blues could be better sometimes). And if you want to attract the under 40 crowd sell 1) cocktails and 2) “craft beer” (look at the foundry menu for tips). That is what the under-40 white collar wage slaves like myself prefer to drink.
I do stand by my point of Sprint being a den of mediocrity, though… 🙂
wait for it….rrs…..
I AGREE WITH YOU!
I have a lot of respect for Knuckleheads. They’ve done a great job. And, I agree that mixing the format could work. I’ve studied House of Blues closely, been to all of them. They know how to mix formats. HOB sells out a Gospel Brunch!
I think there’s room for blues there as well as a night for emerging artists. There’s also room for the occasional loss leader big name.
The biggest problem is also an asset, the size of the room. Makes it more difficult.
And you’re correct, Sprint isn’t what it used to be. There is a reason they were the first carrier to lose more customers than they gained in a qtr.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Hey Glaze, no diss,
but check out expat and Paul finding concensus through dialogue and checking facts in a respectful manner.
I am a fan, so once again, no diss, I just think when people dissagree with you, it falls on you to assess the coments in YOUR OWN self interest.
🙂
am i being censored?
I have made comments here and they are never posted. I am wondering as a straight female am I not allowed to comment?
reality check
I tried to post this earlier and it was blocked or something. If you really know the story of Jardine’s there is a lot of drama involved. Everytime the “gay dudes” as you called them there was more back debt uncovered, Seriously…gay dudes?,,,is this 2012? Don’t you people have anything else better to do than to beat up someone trying to save a landmark?…The problems with Jardine’s were much more than anybody expected. No one knows the amount of debt that Beena put the business into. The amount of money that was owed to so many parties. The number of distrisbutors that would no longer deliver, Seriously? That place was a hot mess waiting to close. The fact that someone actually tried to save it is commendable if not stupid.
jardines is a dog
since glaze and I are probably the only ones on here who’ve done a fucking thing in our lives on our own…we probably
know more about this entire wasteful story than anyone.
Since glaze and I are probably the only ones who’ve bought and sold a business…made profits while in business on our
own…we probably could tell you amatuer monopoly players what the best way to go.
You’ve discuss this minor deal for 5 months now. Every one seems to think they know what the owners will do and
what they should do.
Its like rehabbing a hounse…the guy who gets in there eventually will uncover crap they never knew existed. I don’t know the
2 guys who were in it…but if i was selling the biz I would have gotten an nda…checked their financials…checked their
credit…and demanded that they had to put a deposit up and stop bullshitting. Obviously whoever is selling this place
has no experience,.
I sold one of my companies in2008…took 1 week…i made more money from that biz and eventually selling it to a
corp in phoenix than many of you wannabes make in 4 years. Obviously both side of the deal don’t have any experience
in this type of business transactions.
The place has a terrible name. If it cater s to old/affluent (what defines affluent…because I was in phils place many times
and saw very few “affluent” jazz lovers…jsut a bunch of “hobos” who couldn’t put 2 quarters together. If you’re going to
appeal to an old jazzcrowd the girl said they’re dead during the week and late night are deads on weekends.
Don’t know…but old jazzlovers probably don’t spend much money…and with a druggie running the place there’s
no way to know how much actually came in…because records don’t mean crap in resautraunt and bars.
My good friend is one of the top business brokers in mid 3west for bars and restaurants. Sold many of the higher
volume businesses in kc….even sold phils place…but buying a bar or restaruant is a crap shoot…i’m sure theres
no b ooks that are reliable…cash is taken out…so probably you have to make an educated guess as to what it takes in.
I’d be interested to know what nigro and glaze think about this place. I ‘m sure if it was so great a joint that
kc hops/glaze/nigro/would be on this…because these guys know this town and probably know its a bad deal.
Jazz is dead…point blank…and you better have good food if you’re going to compete with trio…weekends at plaza
are not so good and those people wnat the plaza…not som old delaidated jazz joint with a bunch of senior citizens.
my recommendation is pass…move on. and most importantly…most of you interested in buying don’t know the
first thing about running that type of operation. Absentee owners means you’re gonna lose big money bec ause the
theft factor is huge!!!!! If you don’t know this business…stay away..it will eat you up…because it’s cutthroat as any
business therev is …and unless you’re wiling to spend 18 plus hour s a day building it…stay away.
and the media hates this place..they’ll eat you alive..and the public has heard the terrible way it was run…
stick to what you know best…do it…and boys…this industry is not a hobby…not too many
smart intelligent people make it…and they’ve vgot experience….its a bum deal unless you’ve got
the money to blow. Or you’ll soon see as glaze has seen partnerships are brutal in business..
take a walk…grab your breath….and stya in the biz that you know.
Harley, Harley, Harley….
I’m confused. I can’t tell if you and Craig are enemies or butt buddies!! The variance in your relationship with him is as wide as your assessments of other people