According to Tampa Bay Business Journal, the ownership of Westshore Plaza has sued Mitchell's Fish Market, seeking unpaid rent for the remainder of its lease term (which ends on January 2021) and alleging the restaurant abandoned its storefront at the mall.
Upon state-ordered shutdowns of restaurants, the WestShore Plaza location of Mitchell’s Fish Market did not reopen – triggering Washington Prime Group to sue the restaurant last month in Hillsborough County Circuit Court.
Mitchell's has eight other storefronts, with the sunshine state location already pulled from its website and its Facebook reading "permanently closed."
The publication outlines a statement made by Mitchell's, which called the lawsuit "an unreasonable approach."
"Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been in constant communication with our landlords due to the uncontrollable loss of sales, coupled with the state and local government-mandated closing of our dining room," the company said in a statement. "Over the past few months, we have worked out hundreds of amicable deals with landlords.”
"Here, the WestShore Plaza landlord mistakenly believes that they are above the pandemic and do not have to work with their tenants. They are just wrong. We believe the landlord’s position is unreasonable and have been unable to arrive at financial compromise. Unfortunately, the landlord has taken an unreasonable approach and we will have to defend ourself at the courthouse."
One of the notices of default outlined in the lawsuit was sent on August 27, reading that the mall ownership was seeking $190,540 as well as rent for the remainder of its lease.
While money troubles seem to be an ongoing theme for 2020, it hits harder when it forces a concept to shutter for good – oh, and be slapped with a lawsuit. Ouch.
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This article appears in Best of the Bay 2020.