The city of Toledo closed a $2.15 million deal Friday to sell The Docks restaurant and entertainment complex to two Chinese investors, who have already lined up tenants to serve American cuisine.
Ownership of the seven-acre riverfront property in East Toledo now belongs to Dashing Pacific Group Ltd., a U.S. corporation formed by investors Yuan Xiaohona and Wu Kin Hung.
Documents show the city netted $1.9 million in cash from the sale after brokerage and other fees. However, the city owes $1.66 million in bonds on the property.
As the deal closed Friday morning in the downtown Toledo office of Louisville Title Agency, local businessmen signed leases with the Chinese for two vacant bays at The Docks formerly occupied by restaurateur Tom Cousino.
Co-owners Habib Howard and Mike McKarus, operating as The Docks Venture LLC, said they're aiming to open their Admiral's American Grille in the former Navy Bistro space in time for the Mud Hens' season opener April 14.
The men also signed leases for the Courtyard banquet hall and the old Tango's restaurant space, which they plan to reopen as a new and more "authentic" Mexican restaurant. Genoa Bank, which Mr. Cousino owed about $750,000 at the time of his restaurants' closures last fall and this January, is financing the new ventures.
"We are excited to work with the Chinese investors in bringing some outside money into Toledo, which you rarely see these days," said Mike Howard, who said he owned the former Gatorz Bar & Grill on Bancroft Street and will be general manager of the new venture.
But even as one restaurant prepared to open, the Metropolis nightclub at The Docks was preparing to close. Saturday night was to be the Saturdays-only club's last night.
Scott Prephan, the Perrysburg real estate developer who brokered the deal between the city and Dashing Pacific, said Mr. Wu and Ms. Yuan plan to visit their new property on Monday.
"They want a lighting design plan to illuminate the complex, so they are bringing in a lighting specialist," said Mr. Prephan, who added that the investors are committed to hiring local union labor to install the lights. "They are really interested in investing money and making [The Docks] bigger and better."
Dashing Pacific signed a memorandum of understanding with the city earlier this year expressing intent to buy and develop part of the once-polluted Marina District into a mixed-use commercial and residential development. The district sits across Main Street from The Docks on the east side of the Maumee River.
A spokesman for Mayor Mike Bell said Friday that city officials and the Chinese are still in talks about the Marina District deal.
The Docks deal will help the city reach its budget goal of selling $4.85 million in assets. Proceeds from the sale can be funneled to the city's capital improvements fund, and the Bell administration also could transfer them to the general fund.
Blade staff writer Ignazio Messina contributed to this report.
Contact JC Reindl at: jcreindl@theblade.com or 419-724-6065.
First Published March 19, 2011, 4:30 a.m.
