Belleville’s Hofbräuhaus remains open as developer’s assets are sold to cover legal troubles
The original developers of the Belleville Hofbräuhaus have had to relinquish over $5 million in property sales to their bankers in the wake of a lawsuit seeking a $21.7 million judgment against them.
While the court case remains active, the German restaurant located off Illinois 15 continues operations, including an Oktoberfest celebration this weekend.
The Hofbräuhaus is under the oversight of William Guy Crouch, a court-appointed receiver who has had “complete and exclusive control” over the restaurant’s business affairs since December 2019 after Royal Banks of Missouri filed a lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court seeking a $21.7 million judgment against the original developers, the Keller family of Effingham.
Property owned by the Keller family’s company, the Keller Development Corp., including a Walmart Supercenter site in Effingham, has been sold as part of the lawsuit and a judge has allowed an undisclosed amount of the sales to be used for the operation of the Hofbräuhaus.
Crouch, who is a certified public accountant, said he could not comment on the pending lawsuit. Llynn K. White, a St. Louis attorney for Royal Banks of Missouri, could not be reached for comment. Lawrence Edward Parres, a St. Louis attorney representing a member of the Keller family, also could not be reached for comment.
Here are details about the properties the Keller family has so far liquidated:
▪ Kamin Realty, a Delaware limited liability company, agreed to buy the 19.77-acre site of the Effingham Walmart Supercenter for $4.54 million, less a commission of $174,800 to be paid to the buyer’s broker for a final purchase price of $4.37 million, according to a court order by Judge John Borbonus on Nov. 18. The sale resulted in the payoff of a loan the Keller Development Corp. had with Clay County State Bank. Also, the order states Royal Banks may make “certain sums available” to Crouch for expenses at the Hofbräuhaus.
▪ The city of Effingham agreed to buy vacant property off North Raney Street near the Walmart in Effingham for $775,495, according to a court order by Borbonus on Oct. 21. Funds were disbursed to Crossroads Bank and Royal Banks of Missouri. The order also allowed the Kellers to receive $52,500 as part of a transaction of a nearby lot. Like in the Walmart property sale, Borbonus ruled that Royal Banks was permitted to use an undisclosed portion of the sales proceeds for expenses at the Hofbräuhaus.
Effingham City Administrator Steve Miller said the city bought the prime site near Interstate 70-57 with the intention of reselling it and is in contract negotiations with a potential buyer.
While documents regarding these two property sales were open for public viewing, Crouch’s interim reports on the Hofbräuhaus were sealed by the court.
Belleville tax incentives
The Hofbräuhaus opened in March 2018, which was about two years later than the Keller family originally said it would open. Hotels, a conference center and other restaurants were part of the proposal but they were never built.
The city of Belleville spent $2.42 million to extend sewer lines to the development site. It also granted several types of tax incentives worth up to $32.36 million to the Hofbräuhaus developers, but those incentives were based on future revenues generated at the site and were not paid upfront.
Since the Hofbräuhaus opened, the city has not rebated any incentives to the developers.
Crouch said his attorneys were working to secure income from one of the incentives. The city established a business district on the site which allows an additional 1% sales tax to be collected at the complex which developers can claim this revenue.
Chuck Keller, a former state representative, and his family were granted the tax incentives before the Hofbräuhaus opened. Keller died in January 2019 on his 80th birthday.
A Kansas City man, David Thorman, had proposed to build an 11-field soccer complex next to the Hofbräuhaus but he died before construction ever started.
Two other companies have proposed to build a convenience store at the site but neither of those plans have come to fruition.
The 26.25 acres where the hotels, conference center and restaurant were proposed remain for sale with BarberMurphy of Shiloh listing the property. Mike Durbin, a broker associate with BarberMurphy, didn’t release the asking price for the site but said it could be sold in smaller parcels if a potential buyer didn’t want the entire site.
Durbin noted the vacant land is located across Illinois 15 from the National Shrine of Our Lady of Snows, it is close to downtown St. Louis and Interstate 255, it has all of the utility connections necessary to be “shovel ready” and there are 34,000 vehicles that pass by the site each day.
“It’s a very nice location,” he said.
Oktoberfest at the Hofbräuhaus
The COVID-19 pandemic began shortly after Crouch took control of the Hofbräuhaus’ operations and the court case involving Royal Banks of Missouri remains pending.
“Obviously that’s a challenging situation but we are here, we are open,” Crouch said.
“We had the whole world shut down,” he said of the pandemic that caused indoor, sit-down restaurants in Illinois to close in March 2020.
“We want people to see and taste the food and have a beer and enjoy themselves,” he said.
“We’re employing people, we’ve got great food, we’ve got great beer, great entertainment so we really want metro-east folks to come out and support this business.”
The Hofbräuhaus’ Oktoberfest began Friday and continues Sunday with the band Die Spitzbaum scheduled to perform.
The Hofbräu beer served at the fest is imported from Munich, Germany, since the local brewing operation has been halted. Crouch said he hopes to resume beer making on-site because the equipment installed in the restaurant is the “Rolls-Royce” of brewing equipment.
Andrew Jeffery, the executive chef who has been at the Hofbräuhaus since the restaurant opened in 2018, said the kitchen is a “top notch” place to produce food for the menu, which primarily has a German flair but also offers American fare as well.
The restaurant recently started a new Sunday brunch menu and for lunch, the menu has 10 items for $10 with the promise of being ready in 10 minutes.
For more information
You can call the Hofbräuhaus at 618-800-2337. The website has been updated at hbbelleville.com and the restaurant’s Facebook page has over 20,000 followers.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
