Why did the Delafield Applebee’s close? Questions remain following unexpected eviction

DELAFIELD – The Applebee’s in Delafield has closed, but for business reasons that remained unclear three days after the fact.

At least, the action that culminated in the restaurant’s sudden closing, a March 25 eviction initiated by the owner of the commercial property at 3100 Golf Road for unpaid rent, caught Delafield city officials by surprise — to the extent that they weren’t made aware of what occurred until the process was complete.

Mayor Tim Aicher himself has spent a little bit of time trying to piece together limited bits of information currently available. Aicher said he found out about the sudden closing and eviction through a memo sent by the Delafield Police Department, which had assisted the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office in the execution of the eviction.

It left him wondering what’s going on. “I wish I did (know),” he said Friday in a phone interview. “I really don’t.”

Delafield Applebee’s fell under recent eviction process

According to online court records, the local outlet for the national restaurant chain was formally evicted by the property owner, New York-based Nagawaukee MZL LLC, about three weeks after a court-ordered action in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

According to media reports, including the Milwaukee Business Journal and WISN TV, employees were ushered out without warning on Tuesday.

The eviction order, which started with a court summons and complaint on Feb. 13, was finalized under a default judgment when a representative for the tenant, SBG Apple North VII LLC, failed to attend a March 3 hearing. Court documents indicated tens of thousands of dollars in lease payments were owed, seemingly closing the door permanently following the eviction.

However, another eviction process hearing known as a return date was scheduled this week for May 5. It’s unclear if that hearing will open the door for the tenant company to belatedly respond to the eviction order.

The situation has left itself open to speculation, which Aicher said he and Delafield city staff officials have engaged in as they try to make sense of it all. He added he wasn’t aware of any business concerns, such as a lack of patronage, that indicated an eviction might be coming. Even then, he assumed a landlord would choose to avoid leaving a building vacant, instead “ride it along and buy time” with a current tenant until someone else expressed interest.

“Typically, you wouldn’t evict somebody unless you had another tenant,” Aicher said, acknowledging city officials are unaware of any of the details. “The person who knows the most would be the property owner, and I do not have a direct line with them.”

The mayor said the eviction dampened the enthusiasm of Delafield officials for local restaurant site revitalizations as established chains previously vacated key spots in the city. Those included the emergence of a new Olive Garden at the site where a Perkins franchise operated for decades and the development of a Bubbles car wash on the land where a Hardee’s fast-food franchise stood.

“We thought we had smooth sailing, with fully leased-out tenants all doing well, and then this just came out of the blue,” Aicher said.

Applebee’s closing creates speculation about the chain

The news of the closing of the Delafield Applebee’s location coincides with other recent trends and news concerning the chain nationally and in the Milwaukee metropolitan market.

The West Allis Applebee’s at 2865 S. 108th St., also owned by SBG Apple North, closed recently as a result of an eviction, though was still listed as “temporarily closed” on its Facebook page.

The Pewaukee location along Capitol Drive closed in 2024, and the Oak Creek location at 7135 S. 13th St. closed for a while due to “health concerns” in late 2024. Other locations that closed since 2000 include sites in Brookfield and New Berlin.

The parent company, Dine Brands, of Applebee’s and IHOP announced in early March that it plans a joint venture of the two brands. Under the concept, as reported by USA Today, dual-branded restaurants could open in the U.S., an effort to expand on the success of combined Applebee’s-IHOP restaurants internationally.

Dine Brands also announced in February that its Applebee’s president, Tony Moralejo, would step down March 4. He was replaced by Dine Brands CEO John Peyton as interim president.

Whether any of that is related to area Applebee’s closures isn’t clear. Efforts to contact Applebee’s corporate representatives were not immediately successful.

Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at  james.riccioli@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Delafield Applebee’s closes following eviction by property owner