Lisa Vanderpump may be kissing The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills goodbye, but she’s hardly saying so long to the fancy Los Angeles enclave. In fact, the reality star’s husband, Ken Todd, was reportedly spotted near the 90210 zipped late last month checking out a vacant restaurant space.
Vanderpump, 58, already owns an array of successful restaurants and nightclubs with Todd, 61, and it looks like the entrepreneurial couple is aiming to bolster their presence, specifically in southern California.
According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Todd recently visited an unoccupied restaurant space at 8755 Melrose near Robertson Boulevard, in West Hollywood. The locale is around the corner from SUR, the famous Vanderpump owned hotspot that serves as a setting for the hit reality show Vanderpump Rules.
“Lisa and Ken have owned over 35 establishments in over three decades, with more hot establishments in London than you could shake a stick at,” a source tells Us Weekly.
Though the wealthy pair sold off many of their international eateries years ago, acquiring another space in West Hollywood (especially one that is so close to SUR) seems like a plausible business move for the duo. Added the source: “This would not surprise me at all.”
Vanderpump and Todd also own Villa Blanca, Pump and Tom Tom in West Hollywood, and opened Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Las Vegas in March.
This apparent desire to expand the restaurant empire comes just weeks after Vanderpump formally quit RHOBH following months of speculation amid drama with her costars. “I made the decision to leave. It was a very difficult year for me, personally and professionally,” she told Us last month about saying goodbye to the Bravo franchise. “I had wonderful things happen this year, opening up Tom Tom and the Cocktail Garden in Vegas. The Housewives, it’s just, it’s emotionally too difficult to deal with.”
So how likely is it that a new Vanderpump-backed watering hole is in the works? Page Six reported that days after Todd looked at the empty space with an apparent broker and assistant, the vacant restaurant displayed a “leased” sign out front.
-With reporting by Marc Lupo
