Shopping Center Owner’s Bankruptcy Filing Could Cause Problems For City

The City of El Paso’s attempt kick an East El Paso sports bar out by revoking the strip mall’s lease has hit a roadblock.

And now the owner of the business is speaking out.

Three-Legged Monkey owner Mike Armstrong said he wants to make something clear: He hasn’t filed for bankruptcy, but the owner of Hawkins Plaza has in a a strategy that has tied the hands of the City.

“I want to make this very clear,” Armstrong said. “I’m not bankrupt. We’re open for business, it’s business as usual. We intend to stay here fore a very, very long time.”

The City of El Paso, which owns the land Hawkins Plaza sits on, had planned to revoke the lease Tuesday and force The Monkey out, citing the shooting and killing of a Fort Bliss soldier in February by another soldier as the final straw. But now, all of that’s on hold.

“We have to wait until the bankruptcy court assigns a trustee,” said City Rep Emma Acosta, who represents the Cielo Vista area.

Acosta said the City wasn’t expecting the bankruptcy strategy and said they are still getting complaints from neighbors about the bar.

“The complaints have decreased, but there’s still complaints and concerns that the neighborhood has,” she said.

Armstrong claims his sports bar has had the fewest incidents of any establishment in the City. And he’s wondering why the City continues to spend money trying to put him out of business.

“There’s been a lot of money that’s been spent trying to close the Three-Legged Monkey,” he said, “to the extreme now where so much more money is going to be spent in bankruptcy court.”

Acosta said she doesn’t think this will cost the City anymore and regaining control of Hawkins Plaza is worth the effort.

“It doesn’t go along with the community,” Acosta said of the business. “It’s supposed to be a neighborhood shopping center and it’s gotten away from being a neighborhood shopping center right now.”