Two The Place 2 Be restaurants — a social media-savvy brunch empire founded by restaurateur Gina Luari — have at least temporarily closed following suspensions of the locations’ sales tax permits by the Department of Revenue Services.
A spokesperson for the state agency confirmed Thursday that The Place 2 Be locations at 50 Memorial Road in West Hartford and 5 Constitution Plaza in Hartford do not have valid sales tax permits.
Only the restaurant chain’s location at 615 Franklin Ave., which was converted into The Bakery by TP2B in the spring, has a valid said tax permit.
Luari’s other downtown Hartford restaurant, RAW seafood bar at 280 Trumbull St., also lacks a valid sales tax permit, the DRS said.
The Place 2 Be had a location in New Haven, and another in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which had previously closed, according to reports.
Luari, founder and CEO of The Statement Group, parent company of The Place 2 Be, is currently dealing with several eviction proceedings and lawsuits from landlords alleging tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent across multiple locations.
The most prominent case involves Luari’s flagship downtown Hartford location at 5 Constitution Plaza, where landlord 5CP Master Tenant LLC filed suit claiming The Statement Group owed $43,462 in back rent as of November 2024. By April 2025, that figure had grown to nearly $80,000, according to Lexington Property Management, which manages the building.
According to a court document filed Aug. 4, Luari and Blue Back Capital Partners, which owns the 50 Memorial Road building, signed an agreement on Aug. 4 stating that her restaurant must leave the space by March 31, 2026, and must pay $9,042 a month to continue using the space starting in September.
