Former Northworks Owner Owes $265K in Back Rent, Landlord Searching for New Tenant

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Monday, June 29, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

In early February, Northworks Bar and Grille in Worcester was forced to close after 35 years in business. At the time, Northworks owner Joseph Marrone told GoLocalWorcester that the restaurant was being forced to shut down due to a breakdown in lease negotiations with the property landlord, Northworks Properties. However, just days later, GoLocal revealed that Marrone was being evicted because he owed Northworks Properties $225,000 in back rent.

Northworks Properties filed an eviction notice and civil lawsuit in Central District Court back in January. In the court documents, Marrone requests that the judge prove that the amount of $225K is the correct amount that he owed Northworks Properties.

The judge was able to prove that amount - and an additional $40,000.

On Friday, Ellen Ruane, Principal of Ruane Property Management - the company that manages the Northworks building - contacted GoLocalWorcester with the news that following a lengthy legal battle, a judge had ruled in favor of Northworks Properties and that Marrone would now have to pay them roughly $265,000 in back rent, interest and legal fees.

"The restaurant space is currently being marketed and we hope to have a tenant soon. It's a perfect area for another restaurant," Ruane told GoLocal. According to Ruane, judgment was passed on the amount Marrone owes in April. "The judgment was in the landlords favor. Joe still owes every penny. He never even showed up to court. Just sent his attorney."

What Went Wrong?

Northworks was located at 106 Grove Street. According to both Marrone and Northworks Properties, parking in the area of the Northworks building became an issue when a new WPI graduate building was built on Grove Street. However, neither side agreed to what extent the parking became a problem.

The issue is the parking lot across the street that is owned by National Grid, but it is now leased by WPI. This fall, WPI could no longer allow Northworks customers to park in that lot because they needed the extra parking spaces for school use.

"The parking that is available, that has always been available, is the lot directly across the street from all the tenants of Northworks Properties. There was an agreement with the businesses in the area that everyone could use the parking lot. And then WPI came in. And it is closed off to everybody," said Ellen O'Connor, an attorney representing Northworks Properties. "That's not a basis for eviction, the whole parking dispute, that's just Mr.Marrone complaining why his business was dropping off."

According to Marrone, "We had some extra parking (across the street) that WPI just took over to use for their new building, which is understandable. But the situation became we were given no allocation during the day for our customers and it was becoming a real problem and effecting sales dramatically. We tried to, in a nice way, renegotiate our lease to reflect that. And he (the landlord) had no interest. And I said, ‘We have to do that, or we can’t survive.’ And before you know it, we got an eviction notice."

O'Connor told GoLocalWorcester, "All of the companies in that area, including Northworks Properties, lost off street parking on Lancaster Street and Faraday Street because construction workers were all parking there when they built the new dorm for WPI. When the construction was complete, the city came in and put in meters. And people don't like paying meters."

"The reason why my client (Northworks Properties) is trying to evict Mr. Marrone is because he is in arrears on the rent by a little over $225,000," said O'Connor. "He's been making payments on a monthly basis on the actual amount that's due for quite a while, and the landlord was willing to work with him, trying to get the money that my client was owed. My client just reached the end of his patience. He (Marrone) owed too much money."

Videowall Image: Rusty Clark/Flickr

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