Owners of The Harbor Restaurant sue City of Santa Barbara over monthly rent

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Attorney John Thyne and his wife Olesya didn't mean to get into the restaurant business, but Thyne said to step in an partner with The Harbor Restaurant when the owners Gene and Carolina Sanchez asked them to help.

Thyne said the owners had been contemplating filing for bankruptcy.

For the past two years they have spruced things up in The Harbor Restaurant and the adjoining Longboards Grill and they also plan to add a coffee and gelato shop with a view.

They have also added things to do.

"Tuesdays we do a lobster special, we have one dollar chicken wings up here at Longboards, we have live jazz every Wednesday night at The Harbor we are going to be doing a New Years Eve ball drop."

But at the same time the attorney has filed a lawsuit against the City of Santa Barbara over rent he calls "unconscionable."

They are supposed to pay more than $61,400 a month for the Stearns Wharf property owned by city and they also owe back rent.

They said there used to be a minimum base rent decades ago. of 10 percent of sales.

But as rent rose Thyne said sales dropped for a myriad of reasons.

He said they now pay more than 20 percent of gross sales.

The employ more than 90 people and the can seat 445 in both space.

He said the city helped for a bit but not enough for the business to thrive in the current economic conditions.

"We didn't want to bring a lawsuits we were really trying to work things out with them and i am hopeful that this isn't perceived as some time of adversarial situation it is really more askingh the court to help us get the partiess back to the place that they originally were that was a commercially reasonable lease," said Thyne.

He is hoping for a settlement or judgement to benefit all businesses.

"I think if they tie the minimum based rent to gross sales that would work," said Thyne, "if there is a correlation that doesn't exceed market rents that could work."

Mayor Randy Rowse know the restaurants business.

Rowse owned the Paradise Café on Anacapa St. in Santa Barbara for more than 30 years. It is currenlty called La Paloma Cafe.

Rowse said the city doesn't generally talk about pending litigation but he was aware that the City Administrator Kelly McAdoo issued a statement.

Santa Barbara City Administrator McAdoo wrote the following in response the lawsuit: The city of Santa Barbara has reviewed the complaint and believes the allegations are without merit. The city intends to defend this matter vigorously. 

The city has not received required rent payments for several months and is pursuing its own legal remedies.

This property is a public asset, and the city has an affirmative obligation to manage it in a manner that serves the public interest, not solely the interests of any single tenant."

Thyne isn't a complete stranger to the business.

"I did own a bar in law school with some of my friends," said Thyne.

He is hoping for a win win resolution.

"I hope it works out best for the community," said Thyne.

Your News Channel will have more on this lawsuit tonight on the news.