Frank & Dino’s resolves eviction case, legal fight with downtown landlord continues

Downtown Italian restaurant Frank & Dino’s won’t be evicted from the historic Security Trust Building on West Short Street after reaching a resolution with the building’s owners.

KO Holdings LLC, the owners of the Security Trust Building, had filed an eviction notice in late September. But an attorney for KO Holdings said Tuesday the two sides reached an agreement to drop the eviction because the restaurant paid the disputed rent. The case was scheduled for a hearing in Fayette District Court Tuesday morning.

KO Holdings said Frank & Dino’s owed nearly $20,600 in rent. Even though Frank & Dino’s disputes that rent amount, its owners agreed to pay to end the eviction case, according to Joseph Buckles, an attorney for KO Holdings.

But the amount owed for rent in “certain past months remains in dispute,” said Mike Meuser, an attorney for Post Time Lexington LLC, which owns Frank & Dino’s. Meuser said Frank & Dino’s will “seek to recover any amounts that were not due” under the lease terms.

To do so, the restaurant previously sued KO Holdings in circuit court. The lawsuit alleged that KO Holdings “demanded payment of rent that was an amount inconsistent with, and greatly higher than, the amount of rent owed.” The restaurant, which opened in August, claims it invested 18 months and nearly $2 million in building improvements.

The lawsuit also alleged that KO Holdings failed to deal with water damage to a new hardwood floor, that the open restaurant’s front door was locking electronically at 6 p.m., keeping patrons out, and that the building owners have denied permission to put a sign on the building.

“The issues between Frank & Dino’s and its landlord are not about rent; they are about building conditions and improvements which the landlord is obligated to address and resolve for the benefit of all the tenants in the building,” Trip Redford, an attorney representing Frank & Dino’s, said in a statement.

Buckles, K O’s attorney, said, “To the extent we’ve got issues, we’ll fight about it in circuit court.”

One of the building owners is David Kloiber, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member for District 6. He said the owners have tried to work with Frank & Dino’s and signed a new lease with them to account for COVID-19-related hardships.

“We’re more than happy to talk with them about any other concerns, but that pre-supposes they are tenants and paying rent,” he told the Herald-Leader previously.

Post Time’s attorneys wrote in court documents that KO Holdings wasn’t abiding by the new lease.

“It provided for reduced rent to coincide with reduced capacity,” Redford wrote in a court motion. “KO, however, is failing to account for the rent reductions which are specifically allowed under the terms of the lease.”

According to the lawsuit, the lease allowed Frank & Dino’s to pay reduced rent based on any “actions .. to order reductions in restaurant and bar capacity.”

Before Gov. Andy Beshear ended COVID-19 restrictions across the state in June, capacity at Kentucky restaurants and bars was reduced.

In a response filed Monday, the landlords argued that the lease provided for a rent reduction if an executive order caused the tenant’s business operations to be limited by a certain percentage. Frank & Dino’s did not open until after the restrictions were lifted and so the lease provision does not apply, they said in the filing.

Jay King, co-owner of the building, previously said Post Time’s lawsuit had “frivolous claims.”

Redford encouraged customers to continue coming to Frank & Dino’s regardless of disputes the restaurant has with its landlord.