Sausage rolls stay amid West Main Street real estate dispute
- Jamie Duffy
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---Take a drive on West Main Street, past the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge over the St. Marys River and you’ve entered the funky neighborhood known, improbably, as Nebraska.
But there’s no corn, just a strip of awfully good past and present restaurants, Yellow Retirement apartments, a tattoo parlor, hair salon, car lots and, admittedly, some boarded up buildings.
“West Central has already flipped,” one observer said, referring to the nearby blocks of stately homes from yesteryear that have become expensive and sought after.
So where will the next real estate pioneers and home seekers go? The Nebraska neighborhood with residential streets full of fixer-uppers, established landscaping and big leafy trees might not be a bad and affordable place to look.
A few years ago, there was real concern after the venerable Redwood Inn was reportedly sold. Fans and foodies worried that the legendary sausage rolls would disappear.
The same players in that real estate transaction are now entangled in a civil lawsuit that will most likely settle in August.
Real estate developers are a lot who see potential, take risks and sometimes end up getting burned or singed.
In this case, the litigants are local businessmen and not smarty pants jerks from New York.
Wednesday morning, Jake Venderley of Hunt Suedhoff Kearney, appeared in Judge Andrew Williams courtroom on behalf of his client, Mark Nei, former Redwood Inn owner, in a matter of a promissory note between Nei and the owners of Clean Cut Kid, current owners of the beloved restaurant.
John Thomas Roseberry, Fort Wayne resident, and Aaron McCormick of Bluffton, partners in Clean Cut Kid, secured a loan for $310,000 from Nei in October 2022 and upped it by $100,000 the next month, according to court documents.
The promissory note, partially notated by hand before it was submitted to court, indicates that Clean Cut Kid, LLC purchased 1419 and 1425 W. Main St. “free and clear” on June 30, 2022 for $480,000.
That’s not in question, according to court documents, but repayment of the loan on the note is. Court documents show the unpaid principal and accrued interest was to be repaid in six months.
As collateral, Clean Cut Kid agreed to put up the property at 1332 W. Main St., still referred as The Muse on Main, a music event center. Its status isn't clear.
Since Clean Cut Kid didn’t actually own 1332 W. Main Street outright, Nei had the right to sell that property. It was sold to Swain Enterprises on Union Chapel Road in July 2025, according to county property records.
(From left: The Redwood Inn, promissory note, property records for 1332 W. Main St.)
Nei apparently couldn’t touch the Redwood Inn because Clean Cut Kid had transferred that property to Clean Cut Capital without notifying Nei, presumably keeping it safe from sale.
By April of this year, Clean Cut Kid owed Nei $410,000 plus interest in an amendment filed by Nei and his attorneys. The Muse sold for $330,000 of which Nei netted $306,736, so there was a “deficiency,” court documents said.
With interest that amounts to $64,079, plus the $100,000 of the additional loan, a number confirmed with Venderley on Wednesday, the total owed is $164,079. None of the litigants appeared in court.
Litigation seems to be adhering to gentlemanly standards, no rude or uncouth behavior generally associated with, say, Queens in New York.
Both sides - Ryan Gardner with Beers Mallers LLP for Clean Cut Kid, LLC and Jeff Smith of Hawk Haynie Kaymeyer & Smith, LLP for McCormick and Roseberry and Venderley - have agreed to mediation with attorney Scott Bunnell in August and Venderley told Judge Williams that the complaint had been amended.
Williams set a pre-trial conference for Sept. 14, although it doesn’t look as though a trial will be necessary or take place.
Meanwhile, the sausage rolls are still on the menu at the Redwood Inn.