Private-equity firm buys controlling stake in Noodles & Co.

Broomfield-based Noodles & Co. has sold a controlling stake in the chain to private-equity investment firm Catterton Partners of Greenwich, Conn.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Restaurant analysts said the deal will allow Noodles, already on a fast growth curve, to open more outlets.
The chain operates in 18 states with 255 locations — more than twice the number of restaurants it owned five years ago. The first Noodles outlet opened in 1995 in Cherry Creek.

The company will continue to be based in Broomfield and will operate with the same management team.

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Restaurants won't be celebrating this New Years

The bubbly may sparkle on New Year's Eve at the nation's restaurants, but business itself is expected to be essentially flat — despite signs the economy is improving.

Nationwide, restaurants are expecting a 1% drop in patrons Dec. 31 compared to last year. That's about the same amount of decline in business for all of 2010, according to the NPD Group.

Todd Johnson, general manager of Lawry's the Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, said his restaurant is offering patrons a champagne toast at midnight, but no extravagant party.

"Eating out is for the most part discretionary income," Johnson said. "And discretionary income is pretty discretionary these days for many of us."

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Judge narrows Hilton race discrimination suit but allows it to move ahead

A federal judge has allowed the heart of a racial discrimination lawsuit by dozens of black guests against the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center to move forward.

The Dec. 20 ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo granted the hotel's request for immediate dismissal of three civil rights claims, but left intact one claim because the 68 plaintiffs produced enough evidence to show they might have been victims of discrimination.

A trial is expected to start in February.

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Police seize 'tomahawk' suspect at Sydney Hilton

Police have arrested a man inside an upmarket Melbourne hotel who was earlier seen blood-soaked and allegedly carrying a tomahawk.
Heavily armed police wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets entered the Hilton Hotel on South Wharf this morning and arrested a 45-year-old Melbourne man who was staying as a guest.
The blood-soaked man holed himself up in a room at the Hilton after he reportedly attacked a car with a tomahawk.

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Police standoff at Oklahoma Clarion

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City Police are still trying to convince a man barricaded inside a hotel room to surrender, more than 12 hours after a standoff began.

The standoff started just after midnight Wednesday when officers went to The Clarion Hotel at N.W. 63rd Street and Robinson.  They were searching for a fugitive from Cleveland County, but it turned out that suspect was already back in jail.

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LaSalle bails on Chicago hotel plan

Bethesda-based LaSalle Hotel Properties has sold several floors in a landmark Chicago skyscraper it bought two years ago with the intention of converting it into a luxury hotel and will take a loss on the investment.

LaSalle, through a joint venture named Modern Magic Hotel LLC, acquired 12 floors of the 52-story IBM Building at 330 N. Wabash Ave. in March 2008 from Prime Group Realty Trust for $46 million. It was the majority stakeholder in the joint venture, with Oxford OG Hospitality Chicago holding a 5 percent stake.

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Baltimore Four Seasons hotel project moving ahead

Baltimore's $197 million Four Seasons Hotel is on target to open by late 2011 with partial financing from the proceeds of $45 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority.

Representatives for the state and the hotel developers said PNC Bank is purchasing the state-issued bonds and that the proceeds will be loaned to the developer so that it can complete the 18-story, 256-room luxury hotel in Harbor East. Affiliates of John Paterakis' H&S Properties Development Corp. are the developers.

MIDFA held a public hearing on the bond sale Wednesday morning, and the settlement is scheduled for Thursday. According to H&S Vice President Michael Ricketts, the hotel project is expected to create 1,273 construction jobs and 577 full-time jobs.
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Another Montreal restaurant firebombed

The epidemic of suspicious fires in restaurants and coffee shops continued as the Café Calypso in Montreal North was hit by a firebomb just after midnight very early Wednesday morning.
The café, on Forest St. near the corner of Bellevois St., was empty at the time of the attack and no one was injured.
The attack took place at about 12:50 a.m. when a passerby saw some flames coming out of the building and quickly dialled 9-1-1. Firefighters required little time to get the fire under control, and the damage was limited to the furniture inside.
Firefighters noticed that a heavy object had been thrown through the window of the restaurant to facilitate throwing some sort of firebomb into the restaurant.

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