A bankruptcy judge has approved liquidation of a popular Round Rock restaurant and event space, which will be sold through a court-overseen process for nearly $2 million less than the company owes its creditors.
Cork & Barrel Craft Kitchen and Microbrewery and the 3.3-acre property it occupies will be sold for $5.3 million to Maurice Rosenstein, the retired co-founder of an international agricultural genetics firm and owner of a Brazilian steakhouse in College Station.
With investment from Hall of Fame Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan, Cork & Barrel was started in 2021 by partners Jonathon Kudla and Samuel Darlington. The 9,000-square-foot pub sits near Dell Diamond, the property once belonging to the same ownership group including Ryan.
Despite steadily increasing revenue after opening during the pandemic, the restaurant failed to become profitable, bankruptcy records show. It was losing about $500,000 a year when the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in December. It owed about $7.2 million.
Court documents show the company was unable to claw its way past a loan from Lubbock-based City Bank, which is still owed an estimated $4 million. The U.S. Small Business Administration is owed roughly $2.8 million.
The liquidation plan would see City Bank receive about $4 million. The SBA would receive what remains from the sale proceeds after taxes, closing costs, commissions, property taxes and other costs are paid. Attorneys fees are about $1 million.
The restaurant also owes about $300,000 in unsecured claims to various groups: an electrical engineering firm, trash collectors, and the local energy utility. More than two-thirds of the company’s unsecured debt is in trade to Ryan Sanders Sports Services, a hospitality group owned by Nolan Ryan and Don Sanders, for unspecified services. Kudla was president of the hospitality group.
Rosenstein couldn’t be reached for comment about his plans for the property.
His bid was the highest recieved by HilCo Real Estate by the March 13 deadline. The firm shared the listing through publications like the Wall Street Journal, emails to more than 125,000 people, and ads on social media websites, according to court records.
Recent appraisals valued the property at between $6.9 million and $8 million. Among the leather chairs, dozens of tables and hundreds of glasses making up the restaurant’s assets are six stained glass church panels, a vintage double door and transom along with a “vintage church altar,” all listed in court documents as dating back to the 1800s.
The schedule approved by the court in previous hearings would see the sale close by April 13.