All you lovers of Joe Huber's fried biscuits, chicken and dumplings and trips to the pumpkin patch, this should put your hearts at ease.
Joe Huber’s Restaurant and nearby property will stay in the family and in business after an auction Saturday at the iconic Starlight, Indiana, tourist destination. And much of the farmland that many worried might get chopped into subdivisions will be preserved.
At the core of the drama leading up to Saturday's nearly five-hour auction was whether the relatives of the late entrepreneur Joe Huber Jr. could come up with the cash to keep the family-run business alive.
As it turned out, Louis Huber, Joe Huber's son, and his granddaughter Jenna Huber Clem teamed with their spouses to bid $880,000 on the restaurant and about 37 surrounding acres. Other parcels of the farm were auctioned off separately.
Background: Family feud was behind decision to put Joe Huber's farm up for auction
“I’m in shock,” Clem said as she hugged her husband Matthew and dozens of friends who showed up to watch the sale unfold.
In September, the four grown children of Joe Huber Jr. agreed to sell the restaurant, a farm market, a century-old restored farmhouse, tractors and outbuildings, plus about 130 additional acres of prime crop land and retire.
The announcement caught many regular customers from Louisville and surrounding counties off guard, as visits for a meal and pumpkin picking have become a rite of fall for many families.
At the auction Saturday morning, several hundred people gathered in a large catering barns where auctioneer Doug Harritt held three rounds of bidding on 20 individual parcels.
When all the highest bids were gathered, the total came to nearly $2.1 million, not high enough evidently for the four family members, who were looking for a price closer to $2.5 million.
They ultimately got it, and the entire price tag, with buyer's premium to pay for auction services, reached $2,731,300.
Previously: Joe Huber's Family Farm & Restaurant, a local landmark, to be sold
Harritt and lawyers who helped prepare the parcels for sale wound up convincing the top bidders to consider increasing their bids after three tense rounds.
The upshot was that each of the four bidders agreed to throw more into the pot. It meant, for instance, that Louis Huber, his wife and the Clems raised their offer from $690,000 to $880,000 for the restaurant property, catering barns and an adjoining 6-acre parcel used for overflow parking.
Sam Shine, the founder of a global cable and connector manufacturing business based in New Albany, had committed before the auction to buy the farmland through the Sam Shine Foundation, saying he felt it was crucial not to break up the farm.
With lawyer Allen Platt handling negotiations with Harritt, and Huber's heirs on hand, they reached an undisclosed price on 11 separate parcels of farmland that surround the restaurant property. Shine, who attended, declined to comment after the auction.
"We're happy," Platt said. "It's good for the community."
Another block of four parcels totaling about 30 acres went to the operators of Huber's Orchard and Winery, an unrelated business nearby. They paid about $300,000 for farmland closest to their operation.
Throwback: A lunch with Joe Huber Jr. at Joe Huber's Family Restaurant
Clem, who wore a grey T-shirt with the words "Dream Big" on the front, looked dazed and relieved as the crowd of more than 300 began to filter out of the barn and head for the parking lot.
She thanked people who’d donated about $17,000 through a GoFundMe page to help her save the business. Keeping the business in the family was the goal all along, she said.
“All I can say to everyone is I don’t have words. ... Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support.”
Clem said that for now, the plan is to keep the eatery open through the end of the year as promised. How the business will take shape next year and beyond is still under discussion.
"We have a lot of ideas (but) we want to grow it and not keep it exactly the same," she said.
Harritt released a statement afterward saying the Hubers "would like to extend their deepest gratitude to everyone that supported them for the past nine decades."
Check out: From dumplings to cobbler, a look at some of Joe Huber's best dishes
Grace Schneider: 502-582-4082; gschneider@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @gesinfk. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/graces.
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