Kings Family Restaurants in Butler, New Castle close in landlord-tenant dispute
Kings Family Restaurants in Butler Township and New Castle permanently closed Sunday following the settlement of a landlord-tenant dispute.
The 20 to 25 employees who worked at each restaurant have been offered transfers to the 12 remaining Kings Restaurants, according to Kelly Operations Group of North Versailles, which bought the Kings chain in 2015.
“Unfortunately, our Butler and New Castle locations were permanently closed due to litigation with the landlord that was settled, and the properties were returned to them for future development,” said Jarrett Ritenour, chief operating officer of Kelly Operations Group. “We want to thank the Butler and New Castle communities for the years they allowed us to serve them as well as our staff at both locations. All of our staff members at the closed locations were offered transfers to the other Kings Family Restaurants in Western Pennsylvania.”
Lacrisha Mackalica, assistant manager at the Butler Township Kings, said employees were told about the closing Friday.
She said a lot of other restaurants have offered jobs to employees, but didn’t know if any of them accepted those offers.
“We became a family. We got close to customers. There were a lot of tears,” said Mackalica, who worked at the location for nearly 12 years.
Kings founder Hartley King sold his 30 restaurants to San Diego-based Kelly Operations Group, which maintains corporate offices in Pittsburgh and San Diego. Only 12 remain open. Most are in Western Pennsylvania. One is in Wintersville, Ohio.
Mosites-Butler L.P., an affiliate of Mosites Construction and Development Company of Pittsburgh, is the landlord of both closed restaurant properties. Mosites sued Kings in July 2021 in Butler County Common Pleas Court alleging failure to pay approximately $53,407 in rent for the Butler Township property on New Castle Road from Sept. 1, 2015 through Aug. 31, 2021.
Court records do not include a settlement. The last filing was an August 2021 reply from Mosites to Kings’ response to the suit and a new matter Kings raised.
Kings denied it owed the rent and, in the new matter, argued the restaurant suffered “dramatic decreases in revenue” that resulted in employee layoffs due to multiple closures and restrictions ordered by the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kings also argued that Mosites claims are barred by the statute of limitations and that the damages it claimed were caused by its conduct.
Mosites responded by arguing that COVID is not a defense for failure to pay rent and denied the other claims.
The Kings in Butler Township was built in 1976 on a .97-acre lot. County records also show the building has an assessed value of $59,160 and the land is valued at $14,100.
The nature of the dispute involving the restaurant in New Castle is not known. Civil court records from Lawrence County Common Pleas Court are not available online and could not be obtained Monday.
Mosites officials could not be reached for comment.
