Heidi Lael took back control of the Parrott House and filed a lawsuit against the people who were running the restaurant: PHouse llc, Fabiane Bodart and Marcos Bodart.

The takeover, and subsequent lawsuit, come after several months of missed rent payments by the Bodarts.

“I tried and tried to work with them. We talked about adjusting their rent, we talked about doing a lot of different things but in the end, they just couldn’t come up with anything,” Lael said. “It was finally time to come in and take control of the property.”

Lael went on to say it is unclear as to why the Bodart family was unable to make the rental agreement work as the restaurant’s popularity never suffered when they took over the restaurant. Fabiane Bodart said when agreements were made and paperwork was signed, she was told by Lael the restaurant could sustain itself.

According to court documents, the Bodarts paid a lump sum of $50,000 and were charged $12,000 a month in rent.

“The rental payments were never doable from the very, very beginning. It was always something that was stacked against us since the very beginning. We fought really hard. Heidi told me for months that she wanted me to succeed and that she would work with me,” Fabiane Bodart said. “I asked her two months before everything went down if she would lower the payments. (Lael) told me that she would only lower the payments if we got caught up. It was just an uphill battle.”

Lael officially took over the Parrott House on Aug. 9. Fabiane Bodart said she went to meet Lael at McMenamins in Roseburg to discuss the rent and during that meeting Lael sent someone to the Parrott House to change the locks.

According to Lael, she felt it was necessary to change the locks to protect her assets.

Fabiane Bodart said she was blindsided by Lael’s actions.

Fabiane Bodart was served a lawsuit Aug. 23 notifying her she was being sued over various claims. According to litigation, Marcos and Fabiane Bodart face allegations of trespassing, failure to pay rent since May 1, damaging the property, removing assets and inventory. Lael is asking for $500 in compensation for property damage.

Fabiane Bodart said there is no substance to this litigation.

Danielle Moore was an employee at the Parrott House as a server. One month ago, she quit her role at the restaurant.

“About a month or so ago it has just been falling apart. I had been there for going on six years and my heart’s there and watching it slowly not being taken care of properly and just a lack of management and support from the management, it became more stressful to go to work,” Moore said. “As far as the Bodart’s running the restaurant, I don’t think they knew what they were doing.”

The Bodart’s were in control of the restaurant side of the Parrott House for nearly 14 months. The Bodart family had a rental agreement with an option to buy at the end of their lease.

“I sacrificed a lot for the Parrott House. I moved to Roseburg for the Parrott House and this year was one of my hardest years. I think people really have no idea what it takes to run the Parrott House,” Fabiane Bodart said. “This was our first year so we knew there would be challenges. I guess I didn’t really expect these challenges.”

The Parrott House was purchased in 2011 by Lael who turned it into a fine dining restaurant equipped with its own bourbon bar that opened in 2017. About a year later, the restaurant closed unexpectedly, laying off its 20-some employees while maintenance and repairs were made to the freshly remodeled 127-year-old home.

The Parrott House again made headlines in March 2019 when Circle Star Ranch sued the restaurant for the cost of four pigs it had slaughtered, according to court documents. The owner of the ranch claimed he took the pigs to Crystal Creek Meats so they could be prepared for the Parrott House, but the restaurant never paid up. In court documents, Lael said she never ordered the pigs, but was ordered to pay the ranch nearly $2,500 by a Douglas County Circuit Court judge.

Lael put the Parrott House up for sale in 2021 for $2 million.