Former Loon Lake building getting new restaurant tenant

After three years of sitting vacant, the former Loon Lake Lodge building in Castleton will have a new tenant. A franchisee of the Dallas-based Twin Peaks chain has signed a lease to occupy the 12,000-square-foot restaurant space and plans to open by the end of the year, said Steve Delaney, a principal with Sitehawk Retail Real Estate who brokered the deal. This will be the first Indiana location for Twin Peaks, which has 36 restaurants in 16 states, including 14 in Texas. Think Tilted Kilt in a lodge setting. “The site was a natural because it was already designed with a lodge theme, and Twin Peaks is a lodge-themed restaurant,” Delaney said. But at the same time, the massive size of the space and the design of the interior prevented the building from leasing sooner, Delaney added. Besides sandwiches, salads and appetizers, Twin Peaks’ menu features green chili meatloaf, rib eye pot roast and flat iron steak. Chip Laughner opened Loon Lake Lodge with a seaplane affixed to the roof in 1998, after the family’s once-booming cafeteria business faltered. Laughner closed the restaurant at Interstate 69 and East 82nd Street in August 2010 after suffering a stroke in 2005. The Laughner family operated the Laughner Cafeteria and Dutch Oven restaurant businesses, the last of which closed in 2001.