The Harp might be closed for good after only six-ish months in business.
Owners of the Grant Park eatery are being asked to vacate the space and pay landlord 350 Memorial LLC (a Pellerin Real Estate company) outstanding rents, according to a lawsuit filed with the Fulton County Superior Court in late-March.
What Now Atlanta (WNA) uncovered the 52-page complaint for damages Thursday after investigating a listing that went live on Tuesday putting the 3,130-square-foot space up for lease.
Pellerin Real Estate Owner Philippe Pellerin confirmed with WNA Thursday that the space was available for lease but would not comment on the lawsuit.
Pellerin is the developer of The Beacon Atlanta and is planning a food hall of sorts in the former Graveyard Tavern building.
Jarrett Gray, a co-owner of The Harp, in an email to WNA this week said he and his partners planned on keeping the restaurant open, “seeking a negotiation” with Pellerin “due to the pandemic.”
According to the complaint, Gray and his partners under company The Harp, LLC had not paid rent long before restaurants were ordered to close down in response to the novel coronavirus.
The Harp opened its doors for the first time, at 350 Memorial Dr. SE, in January after nearly two years of construction and various delays.
Harp Transmission originally occupied the standalone, single-story building adjacent The Oakland Cemetery.
At one point Pellerin considered turning the property into a sizeable mixed-use development but those plans got foiled.
Developing…
7 Responses
I think there’s a lot more to this story than what we’ve heard.
That being said, it’s gut wrenching to think that a small businesss totally built out a
new restaurant– and now the developer et al are profiting on their loss.
Ambulance chasers.
there usually isn’t any more to the story other than “every Tom, Dick, and Harry think they can open a restaurant while having absolutely zero restaurant experience then wonder why they can’t pay the bills.”
also, while they (the small business) surely had some level of investment in the build out, commercial developers typically pick up a large portion of this cost. it does not behoove the developer to see a tenant fail, after all, if a tenant is occupying their space, then the developer is generating income. with that being said, once it becomes apparent a tenant cannot pay, it behooves the developer greatly to move them out and someone else in as fast as possible.
as for the ambulance chasers comment… what? should everyone else just agree to leave the space empty out of sympathy for a restaurant that was never really open??
for what it’s worth, i don’t fully believe this developers comments about the overwhelming hype to fill this space- especially considering the current economic climate.
When I said there must be more to this story…
I seem to recall that construction took two years, and it sounded like the tenants hadn’t paid rent since the beginning of this year (not C-19 related).
So were the tenants paying rent for the two years of construction?
Have they ever paid rent?
The landlord was suing for back rent– how much back rent was there?
— That would indicate at least one of them had some experience, although I understand that ‘experience,’ and actually running a business are two different things.
I’m sure the building owner put tons of money into getting that building renovated. But
typically the tenant does all the interior buildout to suit their needs. Maybe that’s not so in this case. The landlord could have built it out as a restaurant with a kitchen etc. I’d be
surprised though.
I’m a commercial landlord, and I try to work with good tenants. I’ve had to (willingly)
restructure my tenant’s rent because of C-19. He’s a great tenant, and I’d rather keep him than lose him.
The developer came off as a bit cocky, hence my snarky ambulance chasers comment.
I’m sad to see they didn’t make it.
We went right before the world changed. Single best prepared piece of salmon I’ve had. Interesting concept for beer and wine, killer mac and cheese, and super friendly service.
I hope Pellerin will give consideration to another Black-owned business .
I feel bad for the Harp owners… The landlord is a dick, he promised TI money (Tenant Improvement) then held up disbursements and slowed down the project. The job should have taken 3 or 4 months but it took over a year because of the delays. All while they were paying rent the whole time, the dude is a cheat who I think has done this to other business owners as well. He gets people to invest their money into his properties and then does his best to find a way to get them evicted so he can rent out the improved property to another tenant probably at a higher rate.