COVINGTON, KY. City negotiates for famed Cincinnati eatery

The Cincinnati landmark is considering a move to the suburbs.
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- This northern Kentucky city is trying to lure one of Cincinnati's best-known restaurants, the Maisonette.
Owners of the French restaurant -- nationally known for a record-setting 40 consecutive five-star ratings from the Mobil Travel Guide -- have said they're considering a move to the suburbs because of dwindling sales.
"We are in negotiations," Mayor Butch Callery said Thursday in Covington, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. He said he's asked state officials whether Kentucky could offer financial incentives.
Nat Comisar, managing partner for the family that owns the Maisonette, said the family has looked at at least four Covington sites.
"The folks in Covington have been very accommodating," he said. "They showed me a map of the city and told me to put my finger on anywhere I wanted to go, and they would make it happen."
Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken said he hopes Comisar chooses to stay at the downtown location, a major attraction since it opened in 1949.
But Luken said he declined Comisar's request for a $4 million to $5 million city subsidy.
"I can't do that, I won't do that," Luken said Friday. "It's just not a good opportunity for taxpayer subsidy, particularly when a large part of the money would go to pay off family debt obligations."
Other options
The family also has looked at Cincinnati suburbs of Norwood and Kenwood on the Ohio side, Comisar said.
"In the heyday of this restaurant, the bulk of the business came from out-of-towners," Comisar said. "We don't have that many out-of-towners anymore in downtown Cincinnati. Tourism and travel are in a funk."
In July, the Cincinnati City Council voted 8-1 to approve $52 million in tax breaks to keep Convergys Corp. from moving its corporate offices, with 1,700 employees, to northern Kentucky.
Ohio also provided $144 million in loans, grants and tax credits to keep Convergys in downtown Cincinnati. The Fortune 500 company provides billing and customer-care services for other businesses.