Staff Report
Some locations of Trudy’s Mexican restaurants, which filed for bankruptcy over the summer, have been purchased by the Hargett Hunter Capital Management equity firm, the Austin Business Journal is reporting. The location on Lone Star Boulevard in Dripping Springs, that closed in 2019, was purchased by Daryl Kunik, owner of Central Austin Management Group and co-owner of the sushi restaurant Uchi, who bought the restaurant for $4.1 million, the Journal said, citing bankruptcy records.
The property was sold by Trudy's affiliate Nofalia Inc. According to attorney Steve Sather of Barron & Newburger PC, who represented Trudy's throughout the bankruptcy process. Sather said on Nov. 2 the deal had been finalized and the “money is in the bank.”
The hope, he said, is that unsecured creditors of Trudy’s will get a portion of the proceeds.
Central Austin Management Group is behind the development of restaurant projects such as Uchi and sister restaurant Uchiko, the Emo's music venue in the East Riverside Drive area and creative office campus Springdale General in East Austin.
Trudy’s has an Austin address at 13059 Four Star Blvd., though it has typically been referred to as the Dripping Springs location. It was most recently appraised for tax purposes at nearly $4.9 million, according to Hays Central Appraisal District records.
The site includes about 4.89 acres, according to bankruptcy documents, while the building has a usable area of 12,435 square feet, according to Hays CAD. But the site also has about 5,000 square feet of patio space.
The Dripping Springs/Southwest Austin location of Trudy's was a money pit for the Tex-Mex restaurant chain. It was losing nearly $1 million a year before it shuttered and was blamed in bankruptcy documents, the Journal wrote, for putting Trudy's in a precarious financial position.
