Photo by IntangibleArts.

The historic Florida Ave. Grill successfully fought off a foreclosure auction scheduled for tomorrow, but now says that the legal battle has imperiled its finances.

In a Facebook post, the restaurant pointed customers to “Love the Grill,” an online fundraiser that has already raised nearly $5,000 from 55 people toward its total goal of $30,000.

“We incurred tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and accelerated our mortgage to a payoff in a year,” the restaurant said in its post. “We settled because the reality is that, even though we are right, we are not in a position to fund skyrocketing legal costs and survive a long court battle with a lender as litigious and deep-pocketed as theirs.”

A lawsuit filed last week by Florida Ave. Grill owner Imar Hutchins alleges that lender ATS One Holdings Corp “conducted a fraudulent scheme to entrap [Hutchins] into highly overpriced financial transactions with extremely onerous terms.”

Mark Ranslem, the customer and former ANC commissioner who started “Love the Grill” wrote that he was motivated by his love for the restaurant, which has memorabilia featured at the African American History and Culture Museum. “As the oldest continually operating black-owned restaurant in the country, it’s a pillar of the D.C. community,” writes Ranslem. “D.C. has lost so much already; we can’t afford to lose the Florida Avenue Grill too.”

He says that if the fundraiser covers all of the legal fees, any addition money will go towards paying off the full mortgage.