Milano’s Italian Grill in Vicksburg closed recently – and abruptly. On Feb. 6, the owners made a Facebook post. In that post, they addressed reasons for the closure, citing an increase in crime, the smell of cigar smoke due to an adjoining business, and a lack of community support.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Milano’s Italian Grill in Vicksburg,” Milano’s ownership wrote on Facebook “This decision was not made lightly, and it comes after facing several challenges that were beyond our control.”

The post goes on to point out problems with crime, the restaurant’s leasing agreement and the overall business environment in the River City as reasons for closing up shop.

“One major issue was the leasing of the lower portion of our building to a cigar bar, which negatively impacted our restaurant. The strong tobacco smell, which permeated our dining area, led to numerous customer complaints. Despite raising these concerns with the landlord, no effective solutions were provided.

“Additionally, crime in Vicksburg has escalated to alarming levels, with frequent shootings and acts of violence creating an unsafe environment for both our employees and customers. Many patrons were hesitant to park behind the restaurant due to safety concerns, and limited parking in the front only compounded the problem.”

Wooten Properties, run by brother and sister team William Wooten and Elizabeth Wooten Shivers, are the primary co-owners of the building that housed Milano’s. Their mother, Mary Jane Wooten of Curb Appeals is also a co-owner of the building. The three wanted to address the claims made in the Facebook post.

“The Vicksburg community can probably read between the lines based off Milano’s actions of not giving their employees notice, not giving their landlords notice, and moving out in the middle of the night,” Shivers said, adding the claims made in the Facebook post were lies.

Mary Jane said that there is still one-and-a-half years left on the lease of the space.

“We were shocked,” she said.

William said that the employees of the restaurant were not given much notice about the closing, and the only notice given to Wooten Properties was the day after the restaurant owners had moved everything out in the middle of the night.

The building, located at 1306 Washington Street, is in the heart of downtown Vicksburg across the street from Key City Brewery and nearby many other well-known and frequented local businesses. 

“I’ve walked these streets many a night before midnight and after midnight, and there’s never been a time that I felt scared, that I felt endangered,” Shivers said.

Wooten Properties also owns the space below the former restaurant where a cigar bar now operates.

Shivers and William said that when the cigar bar first opened, the owners of Milano’s approached the landlords about the smell of cigar smoke. Smoke ventilation and filtration systems were then installed in the cigar bar and its ceiling was sealed with spray foam. The two said that the cigar smell was addressed successfully with those improvements.

They also said they had found cigarette butts on the floor in the kitchen after the restaurant’s overnight move.

“We’re heavily invested in the downtown area. All we want to do is make this area succeed. And these statements from Milano’s were very detrimental to our efforts,” William said.

William also said that apart from the renovations required to ready the space for a new tenant, Wooten Properties agreed to help pay for additional electrical and plumbing additions with the understanding that the owners of Milano’s would eventually pay them back. They said that they have yet to receive that money.

William said that they may be seeking legal action in the future, but also point out that they take issue with their former’s tenants characterization of Vicksburg as a whole.

“Operating a business downtown also proved difficult due to a lack of community support,” Milano’s ownership wrote. “While some loyal customers stood by us, the overall lack of traffic and enthusiasm for supporting businesses like ours made it increasingly challenging to sustain operations. Unfortunately, many other businesses in the area have also closed for similar reasons.”

“What we would like to have (even more) is we would like to have a restaurant that would like to be in downtown Vicksburg. You know, it’s a very pretty space, very clean space. Great location,” Mary Jane said. “You live here. We all live here. We’re all up and down the street. The citizens of Vicksburg enjoy our revitalized downtown. They just really painted a very incorrect, false picture of Vicksburg, the downtown area, and of the space.”

The Vicksburg Post reached out to Milano’s ownership for further comment, but has not, as of yet, received a response.