Midwood Investment and Development, the developer behind the upscale Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, has partially settled a lawsuit against luxury grocer Erewhon.
In September, Midwood sued Erewhon — a store that moonlights as an influencer hangout — claiming the store failed to pay at least four months of rent and overused the parking lot at the retail center, court documents show.
Erewhon hit back with its own lawsuit, claiming Midwood omitted facts during lease negotiations, improperly increased rent and denied access to parking for Erewhon’s employees.
“This is the story of a New York developer engaging in a calloused, and illegal, bait-and-switch scheme to dupe its tenants,” Erewhon wrote in its cross-complaint. Midwood had denied Erewhon’s allegations.
Now, both parties have “resolved the dispute regarding the access to onsite employee parking,” according to a filing with L.A. Superior Court late last month. Neither Erewhon nor Midwood responded to requests for comment.
Some parts of the litigation are still ongoing.
Erewhon was in talks to sign a 15-year lease for the 11,650-square-foot property back in 2018 — three years before it eventually opened, according to court documents.
Under the lease, Erewhon agreed to pay $55,350 in rent for the first month for the front-of-house space, plus about $7,900 for a back office — a grand total of about $63,250, according to a copy of the original lease attached to the complaint.
Midwood originally claimed Erewhon had let its employees park on site for free, but was not entitled to do so.
Erewhon had pushed Midwood to include a specific provision in its lease that allowed for employee parking, according to emails provided in court filings, but nothing was ever finalized.
“I don’t give a shit about my employees’ parking — they can park in the furthest area and I don’t care what they pay,” Erewhon CEO Tony Antoci allegedly told Midwood’s then head of West Coast operations, Michael Gambino, in October 2021, according to handwritten notes from Cambino attached as court exhibits earlier this year.
In September, Midwood notified all tenants that it would require all employees for all shops to park off-site and shuttle into work on a van, according to a notice included as a court exhibit.
Earlier this year, Erewhon opened a store at Hackman Capital Partners’ Culver Steps development in Culver City. The chain also has locations in Silver Lake, Santa Monica, Calabasas, Venice, Pacific Palisades and Beverly Grove, and is set to open one in Pasadena.