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• Highlights from TOAST! 2011
  
• Sundance Cinemas to Open New Theater at Houston’s Bayou Place
  
• San Francisco Business Times Real Estate Deals of the Year Best New Restaurant: San Francisco’s LaFitte

Highlights from TOAST! 2011    

On March 15, 2011, leading restaurant executives from the Northwest and around the country convened in Portland, Oregon, for Toast!, an event hosted by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and co-sponsored by Widmer Brothers, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Moss Adams, D.A. Davidson & Co., Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, and Fournier Group.

Speakers included John Besh, Octavio Mantilla, Ethan Stowell, Bill Freeman, Kurt Huffman, Nate Opper, Zak Melang, and John Plew.

View video and photos from the event.

Sundance Cinemas to Open New Theater at Houston’s Bayou Place

“P-cubed deals” require consistent messaging and collaboration

By Steve Ledoux, Davis Wright Tremaine

Public-private partnerships have been especially critical during the Great Recession, as private capital has dried up and lenders have stayed out of the market.

One such “p-cubed deal” was unveiled on March 31. Sundance Cinemas, The Cordish Company, and the City of Houston announced that Sundance will open its third theater, an eight-cinema complex, in the Bayou Place, a private-public partnership and jewel in the City’s crown.  Sundance Cinemas Houston will offer specialized film programming, playing movies culled from film festivals and general releases. The venue will offer drinking and dining choices, all-reserved seating, digital stereo sound and presentation, filmmaker screenings, exclusive events, and free parking for patrons and community events.  The theater is scheduled to open in November 2011.

The public-private partnership in this case involved the provision of parking for Sundance Cinemas’ guests, bringing consumers into the downtown area to enjoy the theater and other local businesses, with the city reaping the benefits of added tax dollars. 

The efforts for Sundance Cinemas were led by Paul Richardson, president and CEO, represented by Davis Wright Tremaine’s Stephen Ledoux and Janet Grumer.  Representatives of The Cordish Company and their counsel worked with the City of Houston to make the parking available. 

Other public-private partnership opportunities are available, even in these lean times, to assist businesses and bring in needed tax dollars.  Business owners thinking about expanding or just solving current issues should look for similar “win-win” public-private partnership opportunities.  Everyone benefits.

San Francisco Business Times Real Estate Deals of the Year Best New Restaurant: San Francisco’s LaFitte

Underground Chef Proves Persistence Pays

When DWT’s Stephen Ledoux wrapped up negotiations on underground chef phenom Russell Jackson’s lease for prime space at the Port of San Francisco’s Pier 5, no one would have guessed that, three years later, Lafitte would be selected as the San Francisco Business Times Real Estate Deals of the Year for Best New Restaurant. No one doubted Mr. Jackson’s powerful personality or culinary skills, but the Great Recession made raising capital for the $2 million restaurant a nearly insurmountable challenge, “nearly” being the operative word. But Simon Snellgrove and Alicia Esterkamp Allbin of Landlord Pacific Partners and Burt Kendall, among the 12-investor group, came through, and Lafitte, now celebrating its first birthday, was born. “Through the quagmire of the economic nuclear wasteland, we’re managing to slug our way through,” Jackson told the San Francisco Business Times. “The proverbial gold at the end of this rather dark, dank rainbow is the America’s Cup. Everybody’s feeling like this is going to be our moment in the sun.” Visit Lafitte and celebrate the achievement, and the award.  (Find out more at: www.lafittesf.com, photo by AG Photography)