BELLEVUE — Six local subcontractors who helped build Joe's Crab Shack have lost their appetites.

        The companies have filed mechanic's liens against the owner of the restaurant, Houston-based Landry's Restaurants Inc. They claim they are owed nearly $170,000 for work done to build the popular restaurant.

Bellevue restaurant Joe's Crab Shack is caught in an Erpenbeck-like scandal. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        Among those filing liens is Bellevue City Councilman Tom Rechtin Jr., whose company is owed $38,900. The city of Bellevue owns the land at 25 Fairfield Ave. the site of the restaurant, which is a jewel in the small river city's redevelopment plan.

        “I'm in a bad situation where I'm kind of in the middle of both,” Mr. Rechtin said, declining to comment further.

        Three other out-of-town contractors have filed liens totaling nearly $60,000.

        The story sounds familiar to scores of Erpenbeck Co. subcontractors who have been left holding millions of dollars in unpaid bills as banks, attorneys and the FBI try to untangle one of the worst home building scandals in Kentucky history.

        The subcontractors of Joe's Crab Shack claim Ft. Lauderdale-based AGB Capital Construction Co., the contractor of the project, took the money paid by Landry's and ran.

        AGB recently filed to liquidate its assets worth $70,000 in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial District in Broward County, Fla. Nobody answered phones at the AGB office Wednesday.

        “We're at the point probably where we aren't going to receive payment from AGB,” said Kim Asher, co-owner of Dayton, Ky.-based Jefferey Asher Painting Co., one of the subcontractors of the project.

        Ms. Asher said she and her husband finished painting the restaurant in late October 2001 and have received about $12,500 of the $27,000 they were owed.

        Ms. Asher said she wasn't laughing when she won a $10 gift certificate to the restaurant at a parent appreciation luncheon this year.

        “It's a big thorn every time we have to drive past Joe's Crab Shack,” she said.

        The riverfront restaurant, which advertises “Free Crab Tomorrow” on the side of the building, often has a two-hour wait for dinner.

        A Landry's representative unfamiliar with the situation did not want to comment Wednesday. Other spokesmen could not be reached.

        Other subcontractors who have filed liens include Gil Ruehl Mechanical, Tru-Wall Concrete Inc., and Central Insulation Systems Inc., all of Cincinnati; and Spectrum Interiors and Tom Rechtin Heating, Air Conditioning and Electric, both of Northern Kentucky.

        Bellevue City Attorney Frank Warnock said there isn't much Bellevue can do to help the subcontractors.

        “It's totally unfair to the subcontractors,” he said. “But it's not fair to Landry's to have to pay twice either.”

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Six subcontractors file liens against Joe's Crab Shack