A lease dispute between Cook’s Fresh Market at 1600 Glenarm Place and landlord RedPeak Properties has escalated into a fierce food fight that’s landed both parties in Denver District Court, where the case is scheduled for jury trial Nov. 14.
JanJan Inc., the corporate name for Cook’s Fresh owner Ed Janos, is suing Glenarm Residential LLC, the company represented by RedPeak’s Mike Zoellner, for what JanJan believes to be a breach of contract of the lease.
The building’s landlord, however, claims it is within its rights to terminate the market’s lease because the grocer didn’t fulfill an alleged fourth-year requirement to produce a minimum of $2 million in sales.
The boutique grocer is alleging it agreed to a flat monthly lease rate with an option of either party to terminate the lease after four years, an option that Janos waived.
According to the lawsuit, Janos was told that Glenarm would waive its rights to terminate the lease as long as the grocer proved he spent a minimum of $40,000 in improvements, an allegation Glenarm denies.
Janos claims he was leased the space by Glen arm at a rate that was significantly under market value in exchange for the store to be used as a carrot to lure renters to the 300-plus units above Cook’s Fresh. RedPeak denies that agreement.
To emphasize its assumption that it has the right to terminate the lease, Glenarm has hired commercial real estate broker Kelly Greene of David Hicks Lampert to market the 5,300- square-foot space as a restaurant site for lease at $45 per square foot, a significantly higher lease rate than what Janos says he’s paying.
“A restaurant can do $5 million a year (in sales), and we have to bust butt to make $2 million,” Janos said. “You can’t fault the guy for trying; it’s just sneaky and dishonest, and we had a deal and he reneged on it. That’s why we’re going to court.”
Zoellner responded by saying: “I can’t comment about the lawsuit. We have listed the space for lease, and that’s really all I can say.”
If Glenarm Residential wins the lawsuit and terminates the Cook’s Fresh lease, it will mark the exit of yet another mom-and-pop grocer from downtown Denver.
“I think we’re a great amenity to downtown,” Janos said. “We love everything about it. We’re spending a lot of money to defend ourselves so the landlord won’t kick us out.”
Hick’s house sale, revisited.
Real estate broker Juanita Chacon thought she had a sure thing when an offer came for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s West Highland rental home, shown above in 2010, before she had put it on the market.
But on Thursday, Chacon learned that the seemingly easy sell was too good to be true when the buyer bailed.
“He was being very aggressive without looking at the house,” Chacon said. “When he did the due diligence, he realized he just doesn’t have the time for (upgrades and repairs).”
The buyer, who made a full-price offer at $325,000, intended to fix and flip the house. He backed out when he discovered the scope of the work to get 4564 W. Moncrieff Place market-ready.
Hickenlooper, who bought the house in 1982, had come under fire from neighbors who filed formal complaints about the trash and 2-foot-high weeds in the front yard, a matter that was resolved.
Chacon said she will put the house on the market next week for the $325,000 asking price.
Eavesdropping
on Facebook: “The following may be disturbing to some viewers is just a fancy way of saying, ‘Stop whatever you’re doing and watch this.’ “
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis & Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
