Five years ago, she was a bright light on state’s restaurant scene.
Gina Luari seemingly had her finger on a winning combination: an all-day brunch menu in made-for-Instagram, cool spaces, all aimed at millennials — a strategy so hip that it drew national attention.
Luari’s rapid expansion to a half dozen restaurants in as many years — and plans for more — was breathtaking. But now, the light isn’t as bright.
Luari’s The Place 2 Be in Springfield at the basketball hall of fame permanently closed earlier this year, and, court documents show, the West Hartford location in Blue Back Square will shutter by the end of March. Both restaurants were beset by landlord allegations of unpaid rent and other troubles.
Court records also show at least two active pushes for eviction, also tied to alleged unpaid rent, that are bearing down: one for an as-yet unopened bakery in Blue Back and, the other, a seafood bar in downtown Hartford.
And last week, Luari was arrested on a felony larceny charge in East Hartford. She is accused of allegedly writing checks for more than $10,000 to a restaurant supplier on an account that was closed. She was released on a $10,000 bond, according to state records.
“It is a shame to have her have troubles the way that her restaurant group has,” David Griggs, president and chief executive of the MetroHartford Alliance, the region’s chamber of commerce, said, in an interview prior to Luari’s arrest. “Our market would do well with someone creating new concepts that really do appear to be what we need, but she needs better support around her.”
Luari, who leads The Statement Group, based in Hartford, did not respond to multiple texts seeking comment for this story.
In a series of previous interviews over months with The Courant, Luari has blamed her setbacks on circumstances beyond her control: a fire and water damage at Place 2 Be on Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford; a water pipe break at Place 2 Be in Blue Back; alleged employee embezzlement in Springfield; vandalism at seafood bar RAW* in the 280 Trumbull office tower in downtown Hartford; and supply-chain disruptions.
Luari has consistently pushed back on the notion that she expanded too quickly.
Ambitious expansion
The daughter of a former Rocky Hill diner owner, Luari opened her first restaurant on Franklin Avenue in 2015. By 2020, Luari had launched an ambitious expansion that would come to include three locations in Hartford, including two of her flagship Place 2 Be restaurants. West Hartford, New Haven and Springfield also saw Place 2 Be openings.
The city of Hartford and the Hartford Chamber of Commerce were supportive of Luari’s expansion efforts. Luari was aided by two, $150,000 Hart Lift storefront revitalization grants — one for RAW* and one for the Place 2 Be on Constitution Plaza.
A third project, a brick-oven pizzeria in Hartford’s old Pearl Street firehouse, where upper floors are being converted to apartments, also qualified for a $150,000 Hart Lift grant. But that project has not gone forward, according to the chamber. As late as June 4, however, a spokeswoman for Luari said there were still plans to move ahead with the pizzeria. Daniel Klaynberg, a partner in the firehouse redevelopment, declined to comment.
The Hart Lift program was launched under the administration of former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, and it was funded by pandemic-relief funds. Hart Lift is administered by the chamber of commerce.
In 2023, Luari and The Statement Group drew a flattering mention in Forbes, the respected, national business publication.
The article, in part, reported that Luari, then 31, had turned “brunch, something many in the industry shrug at, into a mecca of fun and bottomless possibilities. On the plate, in the space, and definitely on social media The Place 2 Be has become an experience of flashy proportions. With bathtubs or booty mugs for patrons’ drinks, this is not your regular waffle and mimosa brunch spot.”
Luari already was eyeing a national expansion, with her first restaurant in Dallas.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam invited Luari to serve on his expansive transition team after winning the 2023 election. Arulampalam declined to comment for this story.
Choppy waters ahead
In early 2024, Luari hit some choppy waters when the landlord at the 5 Constitution Plaza location of Place 2 Be went to court arguing that Luari had missed months of rent payments and later, sought eviction.
Luari argued that the landlord had been unresponsive to flooding and water leaks in the building that hampered her business and cost her tens of thousands of dollars. Lexington denied those claims and said it responds to tenant concerns in “real time.” The landlord also said Luari did not produce receipts for repairs to the damage.
The restaurant, in a storefront of the Spectra Apartments on Constitution Plaza, had just come off a fire that closed it down for five months in 2022.
Months later, Hartford-based Lexington Partners, part owner and manager of the apartment building, and Luari, settled the matter. Luari paid off the $95,000 that was due, and court documents showed that any delay in making payments could result in an immediate shutdown.
With little exception, all of The Statement Group’s establishments in Connecticut have been the subject of civil court lawsuits, often with a flurry of filings. At the heart of the majority of the lawsuits are the missing of rent payments and the timing of payments.
Failures — or even delays — in getting announced projects off the ground and open also have been costly.
In October, 2023, Luari and an affiliate of The Statement Group, signed a lease at The Shops at Somerset Square in Glastonbury for a new Mediterranean-themed restaurant, Pita. The space was formerly occupied by Max Amore.
But according to court documents, Luari allegedly fell far behind in payment of rent and other required charges. In a court filing in early February of 2025, the owners of Somerset Square sought to recover $450,000, including a year of unpaid rent of about $234,400 and a tenant improvement allowance of about $206,300.
In August, the two sides agreed to a settlement of $50,000 that could be satisfied with a payment of $25,000 by Oct. 10, 2026. A schedule of monthly payments was set out in the agreement, but missing any payment means the full $50,000, minus payments made to date, would incur, court documents outline.
Pita never opened and Somerset took back control of the storefront space.
‘Noxious odors’
In downtown Hartford, the owners of the office tower at 280 Trumbull St. also want Luari’s RAW* out.
Missing “use and occupancy” payments are part of the problem, according to court documents filed in late August.
But there also is trouble with allegedly allowing trash and food waste to accumulate and “causing noxious odors to emanate from the restaurant premises” into the office tower, the documents claim.
Multiple emails to 280 Trumbull’s owner, New York-based Grunberg Realty, seeking comment weren’t returned.
In the last month, at least two of Luari’s Place 2 Be restaurants — in downtown Hartford and West Hartford — closed temporarily because they lost a valid sales tax license. One of those locations, in Blue Back Square, had just come back into compliance with local health standards after a severe infestation of cockroaches.
Meanwhile, Luari’s financial woes are hitting close to home, court documents show, as she fights a foreclosure sale on her $1.4 million house in the upscale Sunset Farm enclave in West Hartford.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.