Sharon Coolidge

scoolidge@enquirer.com

A judge has determined Liz Rogers and her husband owe Cincinnati taxpayers $108,000, effectively ending the City of Cincinnati's court case against the owner of the failed Mahogany’s restaurant at The Banks.

That doesn't necessarily mean the couple will pay up. The city would have to take additional legal action to garnish wages related to the judgment.

The city filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court May 10 alleging the restaurant and its owner, Rogers and her husband Trent Rogers defaulted on loan payments to the city.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Charles J. Kubicki Jr. wrote in a court entry Aug. 25 that the couple's failure to respond to the court case amounted to admitting to the facts of the case.

The case came back into the spotlight Monday in a city memo updating council members on the case. Rogers could not immediately be reached for comment.

READ MORE: Mahogany’s coverage from The Enquirer

The Mahogany's deal with the city was unusual from the start. City leaders wanted to help bring a minority-owned business to The Banks riverfront development. It's not usual for the city to seek repayment from those who owe it, but there are few city loans as large as the one given to Mahogany's.

An Enquirer investigation two years ago found that of 72 outstanding loans made by the city, 27 – nearly 40 percent – had past due balances. In all, the 27 owners owed $1,045,116. At the time the owners of the Goodall building, Downtown on West Ninth Street across from City Hall, owed the most: $228,836 on a $550,000 loan they got in 1992. No other borrower was more than $100,000 past due.

In 2012, the city lent Rogers $300,000 and gave her a $684,000 grant.

Rogers put her Hamilton restaurant up as collateral and personally guaranteed the loan. She was to pay the loan back over 10 years and, if she failed to do so, repay the grant, too.

The Hamilton restaurant closed soon after Mahogany's opened at The Banks.

In an effort to recoup some money, City Manager Harry Black forgave nearly two-thirds of the $300,000 loan. But Rogers missed several payments.

That prompted city officials to send the loan to collection and eventually seek court help

The soul food restaurant opened to great fanfare in October 2012 but quickly floundered. Rogers previously told The Enquirer the city didn’t live up to its promise to put a hotel, a business and more residents in the development. Rogers’ landlord at The Banks, NIC Riverfront One, shuttered Mahogany’s in September 2014.