The beignet battle continues. City Park is putting its famed casino building back out for bids after a district court judge nullified their controversial lease with Cafe du Monde. The park had accepted du Monde’s bid for the 10-year lease on the building over the building’s current occupant (and the cafe’s biggest competitor), Morning Call.
City Park officials claimed that they tossed Call’s bid because the owners failed to attend a mandatory pre-bid meeting. Morning Call sued the park over their decision to accept the bid of their biggest competitor, which was lower than the one offered by Call, and a judge saw it their way. Morning Call is temporarily allowed to stay in the space on a month-to-month basis until the bidding process is completed.
“While we disagree with the Court’s decision in the matter, the Park believes the best course of action is to re-bid the lease. Therefore, the Park will proceed to redraft the bid specifications to address the concerns of the Court and put the lease out to bid as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman for the park told NOLA.com.
While Morning Call is still frying up beignets in its long-time location (now its only location following the shuttering of their Metairie branch), it’s clear that this fight is far from over.