The Barrio Logan property where the family-owned Las Cuatro Milpas has operated for nearly a century has been listed for sale, months ahead of a government sale that could take place next March if $60,000 in back property taxes are not paid.
While a news release announcing the listing — for nearly $2 million — insists that the planned sale is not “distress-driven,” the family ownership failed to meet a deadline last month for gradually paying off the five years worth of back taxes, as reported by the Union-Tribune. However the Estudillo family, which owns the real estate, could avert a government-mandated sale by fully paying off the debt before March or by selling the property themselves, with the taxes paid off as part of the escrow process.
News of the planned sale comes just days after the Union-Tribune published a story about the missed deadline for a property tax payment plan.
Should a sale be consummated, it will mark the end of an era for the iconic Mexican eatery that has served the community since 1933 when Petra and Natividad Estudillo opened Las Cuatro Milpas on Logan Avenue. Two older sisters, including one in her late 70s, continue to run the lines-out-the door eatery, but they’re ready now to retire, said real estate broker Voltaire Lepe.
“They won’t be operating the restaurant anymore,” Lepe said in a phone interview late Thursday. “The family has been at this for 90-plus years. Everyone is really sad that it will be closing, but they’ve been working for a long time so they want to retire.”
The asking price of $1,995,000 covers two commercial buildings, eight upstairs residential units that are currently unoccupied, three garages and parking, offering what Lepe says is “a rare mixed-use opportunity in the heart of Barrio Logan.” The listing, though, does not include the business itself, he said.
Lepe did not rule out the possibility of a buyer or restaurateur wanting to purchase the restaurant business as well, but the Estudillo family would not run the business, Lepe stressed.
“If someone comes in and says, we love your food, you’ve been in the community forever, and we want to offer you X amount of dollars for the business, I’ll present that to the owners and maybe they will say, we will sell the recipes and goodwill,” Lepe said. “But every time I meet with the family, they say they’re up there in age and don’t want to work anymore.”
Beatrice Estudillo, great-granddaughter of the restaurant’s founders, said in a news release that her “family is ready to retire with full hearts. This moment is about celebration and timing.”
The back property taxes, which date to the 2019-20 tax year, is not the only debt Las Cuatro Milpas is facing. The business is on the hook for $130,000 in other tax liens, of which $103,000 is unpaid sales tax owed to the state of California for the past several years. There is also nearly $18,000 in income tax owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
Lepe said Thursday that the Las Cuatro Milpas property was never in danger of being sold by the government because the family ownership could have paid off the tax debt at any time, given the equity it has and because it has no outstanding loans on the real estate itself.
So why then had the debt continued to grow over the years, unpaid?
“Everybody owes the IRS and county all kinds of taxes, so that’s just normal,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of that over the years, and most of those properties don’t get sold at auction. They come up with the money right before.
“The real story is this community where they served over 100,000 families over 90-plus years. Everything has a beginning and in this case, this is the end and they had a great run. They’ve had a huge impact, which is why a lot of people are sad.”
Originally Published:
