Beleaguered B.B. King’s plans to close this month

Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

B.B. King performs at B.B. King’s Blues Club at The Mirage on Aug. 17, 2010.

The lights will be going out soon at the bankrupt B.B. King's Blues Club on the Las Vegas Strip.

The restaurant and club, which has served up Louisiana-style southern cuisine, drinks and live music since December 2009 at its venue in the Mirage, is expected to close Sunday.

According to a court document filed in federal bankruptcy court, B.B. King's business held a meeting last Thursday to tell employees about the restaurant closing its doors Nov. 11 at the Mirage, a property of MGM Resorts International.

"Our attorney had been informed by B.B. King's counsel that the venue is going to close this month," Yvette Monet, an MGM Resorts spokeswoman, confirmed late Monday.

The owner of the B.B. King business, Beale Street Blues Co. Las Vegas LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February. It later sued the Mirage in bankruptcy court over a lease dispute.

The restaurant and club's owners is represented by the Las Vegas law firm Cotton, Driggs, Walch, Holley, Woloson & Thompson.

In a status report document filed Friday about the bankruptcy, the club's attorneys said after they sued the Mirage over the lease, the Mirage attempted to begin eviction.

On Oct. 29, the B.B. King business filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the bankruptcy case. The hearing about the bankruptcy before Judge Mike K. Nakagawa is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 5.

The filing said that B.B. King's is continuing to suffer losses and it is unable to pay its sales tax and the Culinary Trust Fund, which collectively exceed $337,000.

B.B. King's filing says it can't fund a plan for reorganization.

It claims the club "has no other choice but to close its business operations, vacate the Mirage's premises, and wind down its business affairs in an orderly fashion."

The Mirage recently filed an emergency motion to convert the bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or seek other alternative remedies.

B.B. King's business has opposed that filing, saying the business' furniture, fixtures and equipment has already been secured by creditor First Alliance Bank and there are no other assets to liquidate.

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