Questions Arise After Liquor License Sign Appears On Miracle Mile Business
STOCKTON (CBS13) — It's been three days since nine businesses were forced to shut down along Stockton's Miracle Mile.
Now, a new sign has been posted on the window of the former Centrale Bar and Kitchen, for a liquor license.
L and L Entertainment Group applied for the license back in May, and had the notice posted on Friday just hours after the business had to vacate.
"I don't know what his intentions were. It wasn't our choice to leave at all," said Dee Dee Sbragia, owner of the now-shuttered Centrale Bar and Kitchen.
Dee Dee says the fate of the restaurant has been in limbo for months. She opened the restaurant with her husband in 2005, but the owner of the building didn't renew their lease this year, according to Dee Dee.
"Everyday was like living in limbo, is he gonna vacate us?" Dee Dee said.
The building owner may have had other plans. On Friday a sign was posted inside the window of the shuttered business, notifying the public that L and L Entertainment Group has applied for a liquor license. It was posted the very same day the nine businesses were ordered by the city to shut down.
CBS 13 spoke to L and L Entertainment's owner, Ken Littleton, by phone Monday.
"The process kinda started in January as far as discussion with the owner, the owner told us Centrale was going to be leaving," said Littleton.
Littleton owns a bar in Stockton and says he planned to open up a restaurant in place of Centrale. He says he had no idea the building had a slew of code violations and that it was going to be shut down.
"We just got caught in the middle, said Littleton.
According to the City of Stockton, Littleton's application is now on hold until the building owner rehabs the entire structure.
CBS13 also asked Littleton if he was considering a new location for his new restaurant, to which he replied: "we are gonna be waiting just like everyone else until the problems are fixed."
As for who posted the sign, that's a mystery for now. Littleton tells CBS13 he didn't post it on Friday, and when we asked the city, it says it did not post it either.
CBS 13 also reached out to the building owner's attorney, Max Steinheimer, to ask if he posted the notice, we were told the attorney was not in the office.
