A Louisiana appeals court has revived Dickie Brennan's restaurant group's effort to buy the shuttered Palace Café building on Canal Street, ruling that the dispute over the purchase price must go to trial. The decision sets aside a lower-court ruling that had allowed the property's owners to proceed toward a sale to another buyer.
The Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal reversed a district court's summary judgment in favor of Philip Werlein Ltd., the family that owns the four-story, late 19th-century building at 605 Canal Street, and sent the case back down for further proceedings, according to court documents reviewed by caselaw.findlaw.com. As reported by NOLA.com, the appeals court found that an Orleans Parish judge erred in determining the historic building's value, and that requiring the Brennans to pay fair-market value for improvements they themselves funded would be inequitable.
The building was family-owned and housed Werlein's Music Store for most of the twentieth century, according to NOLA.com's reporting. Dickie Brennan & Co. signed a 35-year lease with the Werleins in 1990 and converted the space into Palace Café that same year, per the same account. Court records reviewed by caselaw.findlaw.com confirm the lease ran from July 1, 1990, to June 30, 2025, and required Cousins Restaurants — the entity tied to the Brennan family's operation — to spend at least $750,000 on improvements, though the company ultimately invested substantially more transforming the space.
A Purchase Option Turns Into a Legal Standoff
The lease gave Dickie Brennan & Co. an option to buy the building once the lease expired, and the company exercised that option, the NOLA.com report states. But the Werleins and the restaurant group couldn't agree on a price: the Werleins' appraiser valued the property at around $8 million, while Dickie Brennan & Co. argued the price should be closer to $4 million once the company's own building investments were deducted, per the same account.
Court filings reviewed by caselaw.findlaw.com show that dispute is exactly what stalled the appraisal process — the parties' appraisers couldn't agree on whether Cousins' improvements should count toward the property's value, and the appraisal was never completed. Dickie Brennan & Co. eventually filed a lawsuit over the valuation, and in June 2025, Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Ellen Hazeur ruled in the Werleins' favor, clearing them to sell the building to a different buyer, Lenny Motwani, according to NOLA.com's reporting.
The Werleins had also planned to raise Palace Café's rent to a market rate of $45,000 a month after the lease expired — an increase of around $8,000 a month — the report notes. Palace Café closed on July 7, 2025, after 34 years on Canal Street, following the June 2025 ruling, as previously reported by nola.com. The restaurant group moved staff and some furniture to its other establishments, which include Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, Pascal's Manale and Tableau, while Palace Café's furnishings sat in storage, per NOLA.com's account.
Appeals Court Sides With the Brennans on Fairness
The Fourth Circuit's reversal now scuttles, at least for now, the Werleins' agreement with Motwani and reopens the door for Dickie Brennan's group to make its case for buying the building back. The appellate panel found the lease language was ambiguous and unclear on how improvements should factor into the sale price, and it ordered the matter returned to the lower court for a full trial, according to NOLA.com's reporting. No trial date has been scheduled.
Randall Smith, representing the Brennan side, called the decision a turning point for the family but said they are not counting on the purchase happening until it actually does, per the same account. The Werleins' attorney, Philip Franco, has requested a status conference with the judge to schedule the trial and said the Werleins expect to be successful, the report states. The court considered evidence that the Werleins did not suggest during the 1990 negotiations that the Brennans would have to pay for their own improvements a second time.
Motwani, who also owns the Blue Bayou Restaurant & Oyster Bar a block away on Canal Street, is not a party to the legal dispute and is not named in the court documents, according to NOLA.com. He did not respond to a request for comment and has not disclosed his plans for the property, per the same reporting. The Werleins had previously said they received several offers above $8 million for the building before reaching what they called a binding agreement to sell to Motwani, and that sale cannot move forward until the legal dispute with Dickie Brennan's company is resolved, according to earlier NOLA.com coverage.
What the Ruling Could Mean for a Struggling Corridor
The fight over 605 Canal Street plays out against the backdrop of a broader struggle on Canal Street, once described as a major retail destination and one of the South's finest boulevards. In recent years, Adler's Jewelers, Saks Fifth Avenue's Canal Place location and Jack Sutton's Canal Place jewelry store have all closed, with many retail tenants giving way to t-shirt shops, chain restaurants and vacant storefronts, per NOLA.com's reporting. New Orleans business and civic leaders have been trying to revive the mile-long corridor, and Mayor Helena Moreno announced an initiative in July 2026 targeting the street's challenges, saying the effort to bring Canal Street back is long overdue, according to the same account.
The former Palace Café is in the Canal Street Historic District, so changes to the property may be subject to preservation restrictions, as previously reported by NOLA.com. Advocates have said the building could help counter Lower Canal Street's decline if it returns to use, with longtime retailer and advocate David Rubenstein suggesting a business lunch spot or another high-end restaurant could fit the location.
Preservation rules and Canal Street’s retail shift
New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission records identify at least some properties in the Canal Street local historic district, including 714 Canal Street, as designated landmarks and describe the district as having full control over applicable design matters, according to commission records. The material reviewed here does not specify whether 605 Canal Street is individually designated or identify which exterior or structural changes at that address would require review or approval, so the precise preservation requirements for the former Palace Café remain a question for the applicable historic-district records and authorities. The commercial context has also shifted. A summary by Biz New Orleans of the New Orleans City Planning Commission's 2025 Canal Street report says retail-goods establishments in the study area fell from 64 to 31 over the previous 12 years.
For now, Palace Café — long a landmark on Lower Canal Street — remains closed, more than a year after it shut its doors. Dickie Brennan's family remains interested in purchasing and reopening the building, according to NOLA.com, but with no trial date set, the question of who ultimately controls the future of 605 Canal Street remains unresolved.
