Dec. 09--The owners of Elgin's now-closed Gasthaus Zur Linde bar and eatery filed a federal lawsuit against several city officials and the developers involved in the redevelopment of the nearby Elgin Tower Building project.
The complaint, filed Dec. 4 by Gasthaus Zur Linde, Inc., and North Grove Street Properties, LLC, allege that city officials used the Liquor Control Commission and police department to penalize the plaintiffs for their opposition to the city's redevelopment plans.
It also alleges that the Tower Building developers needed the Gasthaus shut down in order for the redevelopment to be a success, and that those developers then took "numerous wrongful measures" to help shutter the establishment, which closed its doors in September after 46 years.
The lawsuit names the city, Mayor David Kaptain, council member Terry Gavin and chief development officer William Cogley as defendants.
It also names Capstone Development Group, L.L.C. and President William Luchini, as well as Souyoul Properties, Inc., and that company's head, Richard Souyoul, as defendants.
Marco Muscarello, Gasthaus' owner, is in the midst of appealing a dismissed Kane County lawsuit that also involved the Tower Building and alleged that the project did not comply with portions of the city's master plan, violated parts of the municipal code and constituted illegal spot zoning, among other allegations.
Souyoul said Tuesday that "there's a lot of inaccuracies" in the federal lawsuit.
"It's not accurate and it's not true," he said. "We did not try to force him out. We do not need this building."
Souyoul said he thinks the litigation is an attempt to force the purchase of the Gasthaus building, and that the bar's dwindling business is ultimately what forced its shuttering.
"The way the business was going, it was only a matter of time before he closed it up," Souyoul said.
Luchini and representatives for Capstone did not return calls for comment.
Cogley declined to comment, other than to say the city views the lawsuit as without merit.
Citing the ongoing litigation, Gavin declined to comment.
After North Grove and Gasthaus objected to a conditional use permit for Capstone in December 2014, the lawsuit alleges that the city retaliated against the businesses by denying the bar an exterior sales permit that would allow outdoor service.
The city council and liquor control commission members are one and the same, according to the lawsuit, and the city used the commission "to further the goals of the city."
The lawsuit also alleges that Gavin was "mocking" the plaintiffs at a May commission meeting, and that Kaptain "threatened" their counsel earlier this year.
A city council move this year to stop "U-Class" bar license holders from staying open until 3 a.m,. while mandating a certain percentage of revenue come from food sales, was also retaliation against the bar owners, the lawsuit contends.
"In addition to prohibiting the Gasthaus from conducting outdoor sales and altering its liquor license in an effort to harm its revenue stream, the City also used its police force to retaliate against and intimated the Muscarello Parties by regularly parking marked squad cars in front or down the street from the Gasthaus for several hours at a time," the lawsuit alleges.
Gasthaus closed less than a month after the U license change, the suit alleges.
It also calls a liquor commission complaint that the bar permitted 10 instances of disorderly conduct to occur over a period of 12 months "a ruse."
The city fined Muscarello $500 in late 2014 for a May 2013 incident where alcohol was served to a minor.
That came about after three men were charged with stabbing and beating three other men outside the establishment.
The lawsuit alleges that the Tower developers had an interest in seeing Gasthaus closed down, a claim Souyoul denied.
geoffz@tribpub.com
