DiPietro and her business partners came with the building when the Louisiana State Museum bought it in the early 2000s. The museum converted most of the building's four stories into climate-controlled space to store hundreds of thousands of paintings, costumes, uniforms and other pieces in the system's collection.
The purchase contract stipulated that Irene's Cuisine be allowed to finish the 15 years on its lease, said Mark Tullos, the Louisiana State Museum's director.
No final decision has been made, but Tullos told the Louisiana State Museum board Monday (Aug. 10) that Irene's should leave.
Tullos said the restaurateur had been notified that the lease will not be renewed.
DiPietro said the museum's officials told her they wanted the restaurant gone, but she said she has received no formal notification that her lease will not be renewed.
A spokesman for the Lousiana State Museum said its staff would make a recommendation to the board, who will make the final decision about the future of Irene's Cuisine. That action will not occur until late 2017.
Robert Wheat, the deputy director of the museum, said the decision had nothing to do with Irene's conduct as a tenant. The museum needs the space, he said.
"We love Irene. We love her. But we've got some needs," Wheat said.
Keeping a restaurant under three stories of rare pieces of Louisiana history is also unwise, Tullos said.
"You've got 300 years of history over an open flame," he said.
"We needed to give her a heads up and say, 'Hey, we are going to be faced with a difficult decision, and, as custodians of the collection, we want you out. We won't renew this lease.' It wouldn't be prudent of us as museum people to do that," Tullos said.
Even if Irene's Cuisine were able to stay, it would have to begin paying market-rate rent. Right now, the restaurant pays $5,180 per month.
"It's only fair that the rent goes up," DiPietro said. "But not to the point that I won't be able to afford it."
Museum officials said they did not know the precise market rate for that spot because it has been occupied for so long under a lease they did not draft.
Stanley, another restaurant tenant of the Louisiana State Museum that rents space in the Lower Pontalba, pays $14,000 a month in base rent, plus another 8 percent of any gross receipts beyond that, officials said. In peak months, the percentage of revenues paid by Stanley can be more than the base rent, they said.
DiPietro, for her part, hopes the next lieutenant governor, whose office oversees the Louisiana State Museum, will allow her to stay.
"I'm involved in politics right now," she said.
Irene's Cuisine: 539 St. Philip St., New Orleans, 504.529.8811