NEWPORT — The former Barleycorn's restaurant and bar, which helped start Newport's Riverboat Row development 15 years ago as the first floating entertainment venue, will be auctioned Jan. 15.

        Owner Ken Heil, who operates Barleycorn's restaurants in Lakeside Park, Cold Spring and downtown Cincinnati, said Tuesday “everything goes at the auction.”

The former Barleycorn's restaurant and bar on Newport's Riverboat Row will be auctioned Jan. 15. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        “We're selling the head boat, the patio barge, the quarterdeck barge, the storage barge, the floating docks and three ramps,” he said. “The equipment, such as fur niture and kitchen equipment, stays with each piece. There are maybe a dozen items in all.”

        Don Bates Auctioneers of Cincinnati will conduct the auction. Buyers will be required to remove their purchases from the mooring area, which is controlled by the city of Newport.

        Mr. Heil agreed to close the floating restaurant as of Sept. 30, and to move the boat from the mooring by the end of 2000 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by the city over claims of nonpayment of lease money for the boat's slip.

        The owners of the Newport Aquarium, on the other side of the floodwall from Barleycorn's, had talked with city officials about possibly taking the lease on the mooring, valued at about $100,000 annually.

        But Newport City Manager Phil Ciafardini said Tuesday he had not heard from Aquarium President Barry Rosenberg for some time regarding the site.

        “They were the only one expressing any interest, so far,” Mr. Ciafardini said.

        Attempts to reach Mr. Rosenberg, who is also vice president of Newport on the Levee developer Steiner & Associates, were unsuccessful Tuesday.

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