Buffalo Wild Wings has flown the coop in Harlem.
A franchisee of the restaurant chain is being sued by landlord Grid Properties after allegedly skipping out on almost $800,000 in rent at 300 West 125th Street. In addition, the lawsuit claims Buffalo Wild Wings owes $7.7 million in accelerated rent, since the lease is set to expire April 30, 2030, according to court records.
The saga goes back several years: Buffalo Wild Wings signed a 15-year lease for the West 125th Street location in 2015, according to a suit filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court.
But two times — on July 24, 2018 and October 7, 2019 — Grid Properties gave the restaurant five-day notices of default after it did not pay the fixed rent it was owed under the terms of the lease.
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Buffalo Wild Wings stopped paying rent altogether from October 2019 through December 2019, and again beginning January 2020 through August 2020. And on January 21, 2020, the chain notified the landlord that it had vacated the premises.
The landlord is seeking a money judgment of just over $8.5 million, for the rental arrears and accelerated rent. Buffalo Wild Wings declined to comment. An attorney for Grid Properties did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s not the first time landlords have gotten fired up over Buffalo Wild Wings. In January, a franchisee of the brand was sued over missed rent at its Times Square location at 253 West 47th Street. In that case, landlord Friedman Properties alleges that the chain refused to pay $3 million in rent and other fees for its 15,000-square-foot space.