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Closing of Loon Lake Lodge restaurant marks end of Laughner family era

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The Laughner family has closed the Loon Lake Lodge in Castleton, ending a 122-year run of owning restaurants in Indianapolis.

Chip Laughner opened the wilderness-themed restaurant with a seaplane affixed to the roof in 1998, after the family’s once-booming cafeteria business faltered.

The 13,000-square-foot building on 2.6 acres northwest of Interstate 69 and East 82nd Street is being offered for sale with an asking price of $2.8 million, said Steve Delaney, a principal with Sitehawk Retail Real Estate.

The Loon Lake Lodge NASA opened a science and math academy for minority and low-income students at Martin University. (IBJ Photo/ Perry Reichanadter)

The restaurant chain Quaker Steak & Lube, based in Sharon, Pa., is considering opening a restaurant in the building. Hotel developers also have expressed interest in the site, which is near several hotels, including a Hampton Inn, Drury Inn and a Hilton.

Chip Laughner, now 55, said he couldn’t handle running Loon Lake after he suffered a stroke in 2005, and losses have piled up over the years. His 34-year-old son, Chad, and 83-year-old father, Charles, also had helped run the restaurant.

He said there are still Laughner family members in the restaurant business, including his daughter Stacey Laughner-Ramsey, who is managing partner of the Longhorn Steakhouse on Southport Road at Interstate 65.

The Laughner family operated the Laughner Cafeteria and Dutch Oven restaurant businesses, the last of which shut down in 2001.

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  • It's ashame this place closed
    Loon Lake had GREAT atmosphere and wonderful food! I wish the Laughner's (Chip)would learn to run resturant's well, they should have been making $ hand over fist. The Dutch Oven was great too and they closed that up also! Too bad!!!
  • Gift Card
    I also have a gift card that I would like to see if I can use somewhere else.
  • gift card
    I have a Loon Lake Lodge gift card in the amount of $40.00. Is there anyplace that I can use it?
  • Loon Lake
    Great restaurant, Delicious food! Wonderful atmosphere. Would love to have some recipes,pie? Fabulous ribs!!!!

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  1. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

  2. Yes. Blame those who were too lazy to go vote Obama out and those who voted him in again. That's my take on it. I know folks won't get it on the left. OK. Start berating me now!

  3. Serioulsy, people are AGINST this project? Most communities would be salivating over a project like this. You'd rather have an empty eye-sore gas station and shacks posing as apartments? This project is exactly what BR needs. BUILD IT MR MAYOR. And yes, I am a BR resident, and have been for 20 years.

  4. As a St. Vincent employee of over 20 years, I am saddened and disheartened by this announcement. Unfortunately, as the healthcare "industry" continues on this political and corporate path, all that St. Vincent Hospital has stood for spiritually for its employees and this community is being sucked dry. I know it truly has no choice. It is not just Obamacare or just competition or just any single thing. This trend started long before I was even born when the government became involved in healthcare and it became an "industry." I grieve for those who will lose their jobs, one of whom may be me, but I also grieve for this hospital which I have served for over 20 years. May God give us and it the grace to withstand the future of healthcare.

  5. Why do people constantly harp on this issue and act ignorant about what a city population measures? A city's population is the city's population. There is no argument or debate about it. If you want to measure the density of a city--measure it. If you want to measure the size of a metropolitan area, then measure the metropolitan population. City boundaries cover different sized areas--and they always have (though the disparity has probably increased since about 1900 or so when more cities began annexing their surrounding communities). For example, San Francisco only covers 49 square miles while Houston cover nearly 600 square miles. No one argues about the population rankings of either city even though they clearly cover extremely different sized areas. Indianapolis is the 13 largest city by population in the U.S. That is a fact. While the population of a metropolitan area may give you a better sense of how large a community is, as noted, even metro areas can vary widely in the size of geographic area they cover--so that is not a perfect comparison either.

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