Local restaurateur Andy Blouin’s planned banquet and reception hall in the former Latil’s Stationery and Office Supplies building on Third Street downtown is set to open in the next few weeks as The Trademark.
The venue was originally to be called The Watermark on Third and was supposed to open last spring, but the project was delayed for several reasons, not the least of which was a dispute over the name.
Unbeknownst to Blouin and his partner, Sean Malone, developer Mike Wampold owns the federal trademark for the Watermark name. Wampold secured the rights in late 2014 for his 148-room Autograph hotel, which is currently under construction just a block away from Blouin’s venue on Third Street. Blouin and Malone had only registered the Watermark trademark with the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Last summer, Wampold’s attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Blouin and Malone over the use of the name. Federal trademark rights supersede those of state trademarks. The two sides have since “worked something out,” Blouin says.
There’s still no firm opening date for The Trademark, a 6,000-square-foot venue on the second floor of the 1920s-era building, but Blouin is optimistic it will be soon. The project is more than 95% complete but work on air conditioning diffusers is still underway. Blouin and Malone bought the former Latil’s building in 2011 for $850,000.
Meanwhile, the building’s new first-floor tenants are scheduled to open a new bar and restaurant before the end of the year. Bryan Lott and Zac Love, who own Uncle Earl’s bar on Perkins Road, are leasing the entire first floor space and developing an establishment will be an “upscale bar with a down-home feel and good food.”
—Stephanie Riegel
