From Mexican restaurant to pizza and burger joint, now what for Tacoma restaurant space?

It might be a few months before we know what will happen with the shuttered NYP Bar and Grill in Tacoma.

Court records show the company — listed in official records as MTN and doing business as NYP Bar and Grill — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.

Separate from the bankruptcy, the company has a case pending in Pierce County Superior Court: A contractor who did renovations to the Tacoma restaurant sued in December, alleging the company still owed $672,447 for the work.

The Tacoma location closed May 4, less than a year after it opened off 38th Street near the Tacoma Mall. The business also has restaurants in Renton, Bellingham, Burlington, Everett and Lynden.

NYP founder Mike Novak has not responded to News Tribune inquiries about the closure and bankruptcy.

In a December email about the lawsuit, Novak said, “The contractor on this project and our company are in a dispute over unauthorized change orders between the two companies.

“This is in addition to our company’s damages incurred over the general contractor’s failure to use union contractors for the project, which resulted in union protesters being on the property for two months.”

The suit also named Lincoln Plaza, the location/landlord of the Tacoma restaurant.

Asked Wednesday by the News Tribune about the space’s future, Lincoln Plaza attorney Matthew Green said the first step is to answer questions about NYP’s bankruptcy.

“Are they (NYP) going to choose to assume the lease and get current on what they owe the landlord?” he asked. “Or are they going to reject the lease and move out? That is an unknown question right now.”

He said that in such cases, the tenant generally has 90 days to decide.

“We have reached out to the tenant’s bankruptcy council to see if we can expedite the decision making on that,” Green said. “And we have not heard back yet. Obviously, the landlord would like to get that issue resolved sooner rather than later.”

Prior to NYP, the location was home to Chevy’s Fresh Mex, which closed in 2012.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 4:31 PM with the headline "From Mexican restaurant to pizza and burger joint, now what for Tacoma restaurant space?."