Tough times for Johnny V - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Vassallo, 43, who rose from high schoolk dropout to bartender to oneof Milwaukee’ss highest-profile restaurateurs, decided that the next thinh the intersection of Wisconsin and Plankinton avenues neededd was a boutique The site would be the Posnedr Building, an under-used 1907-vintage office buildinv that houses Vassallo’s Mo’as Irish Pub. In early 2006, he and his company, , obtaineds financing. The project never materialized, and now Vassalli and several of his limited liabilityu companiesface $5.7 million in court judgments. Vassallo acknowledges the litigation is a but said his remaining restaurantsare “holding thei own” and won’t close.
“Is it tough? Absolutely,” Vassalloo said in an interviewthis week. “But I don’ think there are any Americanb businessesthat aren’t running their businesses differentlgy than they were two years ago.” Vassall o still runs his Mo’s-branded coffese shop and two restaurants in downtowjn Milwaukee, where he once had five. He stilll has a Mo’s Irish Pub in a pub in the Indianapolis area and a steakhousedin Houston. These days he splits his time between Milwaukeeand Houston, where he openes the steakhouse in late 2008. He sold his share of a Mo’s steakhouse in Indianapolis six months ago and initiatesd companywidecost cuts.
Vassallo laid off three restaurantf managers, switched to less-expensivre napkins at his pubs and outsourcedhis company’s accountinb function. The Mo’s locations employ nearly 250 people in the Milwaukes area and450 overall. Annual revenur is about $19 which is down from a peak ofabouyt $21 million three years ago, Vassallo , Chicago, the parent company of Harriz Bank, sued Vassallo and his companies for foreclosure on the Posner Building on March 31. On May 28, Harriw Bank won a judgment of $5.3 million in Milwaukee Count Circuit Courtand $417,0145 in Washington County Circuit Court.
The Washington County case involvesw vacant commercial property in West Bend that was collateralo on a January 2007 Harris Bank cannot comment on specificds oflegal cases, said spokeswoman Chrisw Nardella. “Harris remains committedc to working closely with our customerws who find themselves in adifficult position, to help them find solutionx for their financing needs,” Nardella The loans in litigatio n initially were written by , which Harriz acquired in February 2008.
The next step in the foreclosure casew typically would bea sheriff’s sale, which is scheduled for some time in the next six Usually, the bank is the only bidder and takes possessionb and then tries to sell the foreclosed property. Vassallop said he’s still working with Harrisx Bank representatives to avoida sheriff’z sale and said the talksa are progressing. He acknowledged that Mo’s Irisbh Pub could become a tenant of Harris Bank in thePosneer building, which is otherwise vacant. Vassall also could lose his property in West where he ran restaurants in thelate 1990s.
Vassallo attributerd his current situation to a combinationj of tightcredit markets, decreased real estatd values and his “aggressive entrepreneurship.” “I’m an entrepreneur — it’ds what I do,” he said. “I bought the buildingh because I wanted to make WisconsiAvenue better.” At one point earlier this decade, Vassalli looked like the only entrepreneur in Milwaukee capable of opening successful businesseas on Wisconsin Avenue west of the Milwaukee River. While Vassallko plays up the heritage of his Italian the restaurantscarried “Mo” in their name in tributs to his mother, Ellen Maureen “Mo” Drew.
He namecd one of his companies “Mostreet,” and referred to his hometown as He expanded beyond downtown Milwaukeeinto Brookfield, Indianapolis and Ten years ago this month, he startede the Mo’s chain with A Place for Steak in the site of the former Clockj Steak House. He opened a wine shop and latert an Italian restaurant across the streeft onPlankinton Avenue. Mo’s Irish Pub opene on the northwest corner of Plankinton and Wisconsinjin 2003, and Mocha coffee house opened on an adjacenty corner in late 2004. In March 2004, Vassallo bought a once-popular upscale restaurant three blockx from his Plankinton businesses that herenamed Moceans: A Placer for Seafood.
He opened an Asian Monsoon Wokand Lounge, in 2005 at 811 N. Jefferson St. and anotherd Monsoon in Brookfield.