LAX Food Hall

03/23/2026

This series of events sounds very familiar, I just cant place my thumb on it. Everyone go give some love to bankheads underground as they try and recover from their unfair situation.

Dear friends,

We are absolutely heartbroken to share this sad and infuriating update.

Bankheads Underground will be moving to a new location due to serious health & safety issues and unfair treatment involving Great River Property Management at our space on 200 Main Street in La Crosse, WI.

For years, we have poured our time, energy, and savings into building this vision. When we finally secured what we believed was the perfect location, we were filled with hope and excitement. We signed a lease that required us to handle most interior upgrades, while the property management company was responsible for maintaining and upgrading the building’s infrastructure.

Once we began working in the space, we immediately encountered major issues. The building was in extremely poor condition—far below modern safety standards. We discovered asbestos, black mold, structural concerns, and even flooding in the kitchen coming from another unit. To safely operate, much of the space would need to be torn out and rebuilt.

Despite all of this, we pushed forward.

We invested thousands of dollars into flooring, ceiling materials, paint, lighting, furniture, and labor—trusting that the agreements in our lease would be honored. We submitted receipts and communicated clearly about credits that were supposed to be applied toward rent. Initially, we were told everything looked good and to continue.

But when it came time for those credits to be honored, everything changed.

Instead, we received a 10-day eviction notice demanding payment for rent we had already exceeded in improvements. When we raised concerns about the unsafe conditions—especially the widespread mold—we were told we were in default, that no credits would be applied, and that we needed to vacate within 24 hours. We were also told we would not be allowed to open another business in the community.

After everything we invested—financially, physically, and emotionally—this has been devastating.

We feel taken advantage of. What was supposed to be a partnership turned into a situation where our work and resources improved a property we are now being forced out of, while we are left to absorb the losses.

But we are not giving up.

We are exploring legal action and will continue to stand up for ourselves, our supporters, and our vision. This is bigger than us—it’s about how small businesses, creatives, and community builders are treated.

We are deeply grateful for everyone who has supported us—our friends, family, and community. This setback hurts, but it will not be the end of Bankheads Underground.

We will rise again. Stronger. Wiser. And still committed to creating a space for art, culture, and community.

Show will still go on May 9th at a different location, Stay with us. More updates coming soon.

Help us recover from this tragic event so that we can continue to support our local community & the art culture
https://gofund.me/eaf02d15a

— Bankheads Underground

01/30/2026

we cant believe what we are expecting disabled folks to live off of.

Raise social security disability payments to match minimum wage

10/16/2025

Good news is coming, not that we're going to be able to open a food hall anytime soon. Still it will be satisfying. 🦷(random tooth emoji )

01/14/2024

1st, thank you for the overwhelming community support. We've had hundreds of you give us encouragement and condolences. Even coming up to us at gas stations and restaurants, and, of course theres the 5 middle age white guys bashing us on reddit, which is expected, (leave your basement fellas and get a hobby, maybe pottery or basket weaving, who doesnt love a good basket). As for the rest of ya, we appreciate you so very much.

We've also had dozens of small businesses and people (current and ex) tenants of great river property management contact us with their horror stories of what they have suffered. Most were either too scared or didn't know what path to take to stand up to this company prior to our Facebook post. If you are one of these businesses or people and you'd like to share your story and fight back, feel free to message us or email us at [email protected] . We are discussing our options and devising a path towards justice.

I know you might of accepted that you got screwed and mental healtwise, you just want to be done with it (we get it, the thought has crossed our mind too) but we are much stronger together and standing up for what's right is how you protect the next person that may be putting themselves or their business at risk.

And always remember, regardless of the threats you may have received, it's not defamation, slander, or libel if it's the truth. So as long as you're telling the truth, you can say what you've experienced. Even if it shows a company for who they are and cost them business. That is a right we are fortunate to have in our country.

Thank you all so much.

01/10/2024

Dear friends, we are absolutely heartbroken. here is a sad/infuriating update. Sorry about the radio silence but lawyers have been involved so we were advised to not post anything, in hopes of getting the issues worked out with our landlord. But that's not going to happen. Despite our best efforts, LAX food hall is not going to happen.

Over 2 years ago we had a dream that we invested our life savings in, found loans, figured out all the paperwork to become a legal business, then found a perfect space and signed a lease with Great River Property Management. We were excited.

Not to get into too many details but the lease had us responsible for most of the required upgrades for our space and Great Rivers was responsible for upgrading the buildings infrastructure. Once we got into the space we hit big hurdles as the condition of the building was decades under what modern safety code allows, asbestos, black mold, a section of the second floor tried to collapse when we removed a wall that was not intended to be load bearing, every time we mopped the floor, the water went through all the cracks in our floor and soaked the basement, the electric was WW2 era tin wrapped in cloth and the main panels are those old fuses that look like light bulb ends(still being used) it was a sh*tshow, you get the picture.

But we expected and budgeted for SOME of these since the building is so old. So, we pushed on. Then when we got to the point where we felt it was time for the property management company to fulfill their obligations, we sent a letter with all the quotes and an explanation of what needed to be done. They responded by locking the doors on us and demanding that months’ rent, and for us to sign something saying that we would pay for EVERYTHING (this is after we’d already sunk around half a million bucks into the project and THEIR building). We refused to sign but offered to reimburse them part or even all the cost, we just wanted to get open, fair or not. They refused.

They filed for eviction yesterday, but they've had us locked out for months, they refused to allow us to remove any of our property and now they are trying to lease the property out. To our understanding, ALL ILLEGAL TO DO WITHOUT EVICTING SOMEONE. From what we read, it's even illegal for them to enter our space without some form of emergency or permission from us. Yet, there doesn’t seem to be anyone enforcing these laws. At least not yet.

As for the space, it currently has no electricity, no plumbing, no HVAC, no fire protection/alarms, structural issues. We can list tons of code/life safety violations, not all the violations are in our space. We believe the building to be unsafe and needs to be condemned, but that’s up to the city.

We are devastated, 2 years of our life and our life savings ripped off by some millionaire (we assume because they own this building, the hive, the scenic building, Powell place and a bunch of others, mostly college housing).

We have a theory, that since they are used to renting apartments to college kids, they are accustomed to not following the law and just bullying these kids around and getting away with it. But we’re not college kids, we plan on suing them, God willing get some justice, and hopefully pay back our friends, family, and the community for the 36k honeycomb crowd sourced loan and paying something to all the restaurants we had signed, especially since they are all either minority or women owned. At the very least get back the over 80k we’ve paid in rent, sadly our life savings are probably gone, along with a lot of people’s dreams, including ours. Not to mention the 100s of thousands we now owe from loans. Meanwhile, they benefit from all the time and money we have sunk into their building removing dangerous/ illegal conditions even the exterior concrete and the dilapidated awning.

This is wrong, what this millionaire/company has done and how they’ve done it. So, we're going to stand up to them. Someone needs to. They are screwing over so many small local businesses, families, immigrants, a disabled veteran, and the community. We've probably said too much, but you deserve to be caught up.

Also, to clear some rumors up, despite what reddit says, we did not tell anyone to quit their day jobs for our opening. Also, we’ve paid our employees/contractors but the owner has only taken 5k in pay (in over 2 years of business [that’s under $200 bucks a month]) and that was an emergency, when his car broke, so he could get to work and do work for the foodhall (yes he’s been working a full time job this whole time to live off of).

10/17/2023

Were all about supporting laX especially things that add to our great culture here, so we are happy to announce that we will have(what I think is) a great coupon in the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra fundraising coupon book, that they sell each year. "1st drink free for your whole party(up to 10 people) thats 10 FREE DRINKS. Details and fine print on said coupon.

So support them and make sure you purchase their coupon book. It's not for sale yet but we'll announce when it goes on sale.

10/16/2023

An overdue update, this week the electricians should be starting to wire up all the individual restaurant stall and the final hvac plans (for both floors) are expected to be finalized by our fair government.

From my time in the American army, I made a bunch of friends in Israel that have all been affected in varying degrees from what going on over there, so sorry about the radio silence this past week.

And I pray for all the Gazan civilians and Israeli civilians and soldiers. The world can be a cruel place sometimes.

10/05/2023

Last day, the opportunity to invest ends Friday morning. Let's make some money together and build our community up. 11 family owned local small business are counting on you. Let's stand as a community and get this done.

Invest $100 or more in a locally-owned business and shape the future of where you live. Earn 5-12% interest and get a whole lot more: deeper connections with your community and businesses you love.

10/04/2023

It's October, the spooky month and my favorite holiday, Halloween. Everyone is picking out their costumes, special those of us that have kiddos, but you know what the best costume is this year? A LAX FOODHALL INVESTOR!!!! 2 days left to support the revitalization of your downtown. So remember, check your candy before eating it, moderation is key, no one wants to see a sexy version of biden or trump this year and most importantly----Click the link, make some money, be a mench.

https://invest.honeycombcredit.com/campaigns/LAX-Food-Hall

10/04/2023

Thanks for being a top engager and making it on to my weekly engagement list! 🎉 Emily Feldewerth, Sarah Miles, Shane Scott

Also there is still 2 days left to invest, let's go https://invest.honeycombcredit.com/campaigns/LAX-Food-Hall

10/02/2023

There’s only a few days left before our Honeycomb offering closes! This is your last chance to invest in the foodhall! We want you, our community, to benefit from us growing, which is why we want to back this loan’s interest to YOU, not a bank. If you haven’t already, check out our offering. If you have invested, tell your friends there’s only a few days left. Expand your investment portfolio by investing in LaX foodhall- we’re a whole lot cooler than crypto.

https://invest.honeycombcredit.com/campaigns/LAX-Food-Hall