Sarcoa's lease terminated, but events still scheduled

The Hamilton Waterfront Trust has terminated the 10-year lease of waterfront restaurant Sarcoa.

According to the trust, the termination comes after "major and escalating protracted breaches of the sublease."

With a busy wedding and event season looming in the coming months, both the trust and the restaurant's owners say they're working hard to make sure those events still go ahead.

A notice was posted on Sarcoa's doors yesterday saying the owners had failed to pay more than $226,000 in rent among other contract breaches.

Some of the breaches listed include: Sharing the premises with JEM Hospitality Group without consent, using the premises for a purpose other than a fully licensed restaurant, permitting the premises to be used as a banquet hall without consent, and failing to be open during the same hours and days as the majority of restaurants in the Golden Horseshoe.

The owners' lawyer, Konstantine Ketsetzis, told CBC News that he could not comment on the allegations laid out in the notice, because the matter is currently before the courts. But, he said, the owners are hopeful they can come to an "amicable resolution."

Ketsetzis said that the restaurant's owners are hopeful that all the events they currently have booked will continue as planned.

"We have intentions to carry on with all scheduled events," Ketsetzis said. A wedding that's planned for Friday night will go ahead as scheduled, he said.

According to a press release from the Hamilton Waterfront Trust, Sarcoa's owners have agreed to let JEM Hospitality, a third party group, use their equipment in order to continue with events and weddings scheduled at the Hamilton Waterfront Trust Centre.

The Waterfront Trust wouldn't comment any further on the issue. "We understand the media interest in the story, but beyond our making clear our efforts to attempt to prevent unnecessary disruption to former customers of [Sarcoa] who have planned significant events, we have no further comment at this time as the matter is before the courts.

Tyler Moe has a wedding scheduled at Sarcoa in just a few weeks. He says they've been in contact with the Hamilton Waterfront Trust. "It appears they are working hard on a possible solution," he said. He hopes to get more clarity in the coming days.