Om building foreclosed, scheduled to be auctioned

The lights are off at Om, but its trouble continues

​The building that housed Om restaurant in downtown Minneapolis has been foreclosed by its lenders, according to the Star Tribune. The contemporary Indian restaurant abruptly shut its doors after the disaster of the failed New Year's Eve party earlier this month.

Although it may have seemed like the badly planned New Year's Eve party directly caused the restaurant's closure, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal had already reported in November that the 401 First Avenue North building was headed for foreclosure.

Om Restaurant

Will the chandelier be auctioned?

​The building is owned by the 401 Group LLC in Circle Pines and run by Vik Uppal and his father, Sohan Uppal. The 401 Group LLC is a subsidiary of Uppal Enterprises.

A Hennepin County District Court judge had issued a $5.6 million judgment against Uppal Enterprises, finding the company in default on loans it took out in 2008, according to the Business Journal report from November 12.

The foreclosure has more to do with the failure of the restaurant, the Star Tribune reports. Richard Morris, a lawyer for the Uppals in Edina, told the paper that the bank wouldn't let the Uppals draw down on their construction loan, preventing them from completing the necessary renovations to the century-old building to make use of its upper floors. He said that there had been plans to develop apartments there at one point.

The building is scheduled to be auctioned off at a sheriff's sale on February 25.