Old Church's restaurant under foreclosure

LIMA - A bank that holds the mortgage to the building that housed Church's Chicken on South Main Street has filed for foreclosure.

Citizens National Bank of Bluffton filed for foreclosure this month against Hubbard Restaurant Services of Toledo. The company owes $398,077 on a $405,000 mortgage it took out in January 2007, according to records filed in Allen County Common Pleas Court.

Hubbard is behind on its payments, the lawsuit said.

Church's Chicken, at 629 S. Main St., closed in November. When the business first closed, signs on the door indicated it was temporary because of technical renovations. The menu, at the time, had been blocked off with cardboard.

Sixth Ward Councilman Derry Glenn, at the time, said employees of the restaurant, including the manager, told him the building was receiving upgrades, including electrical. He also said the manager told him business was going well.

Glenn said he is planning a business summit next week in the Sixth Ward and plans to show the building to two prospective restaurant owners. He said he would announce later the date, time and location of his business summit.

"We're working on jobs. I'm bringing companies in trying to find people some work," he said.

In 2006, Glenn worked with property owner Paul Hubbard to bring Church's Chicken to Lima and touted it as an example of economic development when it opened in December 2006.

"This is a historic day," he said at the time. "It's helping to rebuild the corridor and employ people."

The building previous held an Arby's restaurant, then Kristy's, a restaurant run by Genesis Project, a worker training program run by the Rev. Ron Fails, of Lima. Genesis eventually closed its own restaurant and leased to Church's, which hired people in coordination with Genesis.