Bar tenants want $1.2M to vacate GT premises
(CNS): A commercial landlord trying to evict a troublesome tenant who is refusing to vacate the premises has accused them of holding the property owners to ransom after they demanded $1.2 million to leave. In a lawsuit filed in the Grand Court this week, Cayman Technology Centre has accused the managers of Vine and Tap of a long list of breaches of their lease and its patrons of anti-social behaviour that the landlord says is causing havoc at their “smart, clean, friendly, upscale and safe business and retail park”.
In July 2020, Cayman Technology Centre leased two units to the bar owners for five years at a cost of $80,000 per year. But in 2023, the bar had a change in shareholder ownership, which Cayman Technology Centre said in the lawsuit has attracted a very different clientele, leading to a long list of problems.
This includes a shooting at the premises around Christmas time, regular fights in the parking lot, and lewd, unpleasant and drunken behaviour that is undermining the entire commercial centre and the safety and security of the rest of the tenants, the landlords stated.
The writ states that other tenants have repeatedly complained about the bar and its patrons, and staff and customers of neighbouring premises feel unsafe owing to the clientele the bar has attracted.
“The Defendant is the source of and responsible for the nuisance, annoyance and danger it is attracting to the premises,” Cayman Technology Centre said about Vine and Tap, adding that the centre was now “suffering the stigma that comes with the nuisance, annoyance and danger that the defendant is permitting, suffering to be done and attracting to the premises and the vicinity, with people commenting adversely on social media and being put off from coming and spending time in the business park”.
Used condoms, cigarette butts and broken bottles now regularly litter the car park, while pole dancing, drug-taking, vomiting, urinating and excessively loud music in and around the bar are becoming frequent, especially on the weekends. As a result, the landlord issued an eviction notice in January, saying that the bar had breached the condition of the lease.
In a letter sent to the managers of Vine and Tap in January through its attorneys, Cayman Technology Centre gave them notice that the lease would terminate at noon on 29 February and also asked them to produce the insurance policy required under the lease. However, the tenant has refused to leave and failed to produce the insurance documents.
“The Defendant has refused to vacate and remains in unlawful occupation of the premises without the Plaintiff’s consent,” Cayman Technology Centre stated in the suit. “Instead of acting responsibly, in response to the Plaintiff’s termination and forfeiture of the Lease, the Defendant has sought to hold the Plaintiff to ransom and asserted that it… will not vacate unless and until the Plaintiff gives it CI$1.2 million.”
CNS has contacted Vine and Tap for comment on the allegations and their demand for the $1.2 million but so far the owners have not responded.
See the writ on the Grand Court online public register here and search for cause no# G 0114 of 2024.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Local News
Must be yardie dolla.
Why can’t the Landlord file to have the Liquor License Control Board of DCI cancel Vine and Tap’s liquor license? or T&BL? Aren’t there any baseline community standards linked to the provision of these grants any more?
While the legal drama plays out the government needs a tool to step in. It does not seem for a second in the public interest to have this operation continue. Amend licensing law?! Imagine a “poorer” landlord having to take their tenant to court – it would be nigh impossible. Government needs to help.
DCI (is supposed to have) Enforcement Officers…
https://www.dci.gov.ky/compliance-and-enforcement-faqs
Yes. “supposed to have”. Ask the Brac about that.
This department is useless when it comes to enforcement.
Oh, you mean like the DCI enforcement section? They’ll be right over!
A monetary demand? Are the tenant company of persons all on something??? Who is the born Caymanian member? Do you they have any influence at all in helping the company do the right thing by the community (regardless of profiteering)?
Anywhere else, the landlord, public, and media would be asking in Dolby surround sound for DCI leadership to comment. But in Cayman, we are left to bang our frustrated heads wondering why there isn’t the agency and enforcement section we already paid for. #theoreticalduties
Is their insufficient CCTV at the Cayman Technology Center?
“Used condoms, cigarette butts and broken bottles now regularly litter the car park, while pole dancing, drug-taking, vomiting, urinating and excessively loud music in and around the bar are becoming frequent, especially on the weekends.”
Seems most of these heinous infractions could be curbed by security personnel or a camera…..at a TECHNOLOGY center….maybe regular patrols by police given the GT station is 42elewenteen seconds down the road….?
You think a security guard on a work permit will interact with these animals?!
You mean, beyond the drug deal?
In yet another irony, isn’t Security Centre located there?
Yes. And yet another irony: Didn’t they install island-wide CCTV that could have caught some of the goings-on outside the establishment?
Wait until the reality show comes out all mentioned is inclusive with the Cayman’s richest crack heads!
The sripper poles and “exotic dancers” are designed to attract a certain crowd.
You must mean from the Department of Education immediately adjacent?
Wow…need to man the CCTV cameras on the next full moon.
Hee Haw Hee Haw!
If anyone “watches” the CCTV cameras, none of them have EVER never said anything to RCIPS. It’s a broken system. In order to CCTV to work, there has to be continual monitoring, reporting and follow-up.
Zippo, is what we get for our millions invested. Nobody is there. Nobody reports, nobody sees nuttin’.
Waiting 8 months now on the RCIPS to procure CCTV footage for the Ombudsman to review regarding a complaint against one of their own.
No surprise.
I’m curious where the CI$1.2 million number came from? Is that loss of profits?
Interested to see how this plays out.
Drinking. Caymans No.1 sport since 19-how-long?
Not quite. The question is where did the bar come up with the number 1.2 million to vacate? Is that based on loss of profits. Obviously the money that the bar receives is from drinking. But is the number based on accounts verified by an auditor or made up for what period?
As a former bar owner, I can attest there is no law-abiding bar operation in Cayman banking KYD$1.2mln in profit over any calendar period. It’s a wishful number seeking relocation and refurbishment costs for some first world location the 2023 owners couldn’t previously afford to pick. Na today bobo.
Our favorite thing to do, but only on days ending in the letter y.
Never been to this bar but I am willing to bet that the exterior/parking areas are not brightly lit at night. If landlords do this with bright LED lights and have security cameras then unruly patrons will not congregate.
It is the same issue at many such establishments.
Yes and no. The client list and hosted attractions have changed considerably since lease was opened. It’s devolved from high-end after-work professional wine tasting spot, to a Karaoke cotton club for regional inhabitants.
What you indicate is likely correct BUT a very well lit exterior and parking area would mean that patrons leave the area the minute they exit the establishment.
It’s a cesspool of undesirables
wasn’t always
Depends on who you’re asking. These ones are just outwardly violent, so it’s easier for everyone to get onboard with the disdain.
Decent people visit the karaoke section. The undesirables are who frequents the main bar.
Sounds like the Sunday crowd that used to frequent Power Supply Bar at the Marquis. Cayman’s finest!
Same dog puppies
It’s the kind of music they play there. Dancehall I understand so of course it’s going to attract the unruly people of Cayman + Jamaica. Shut them down and never approve a bar to operate in a business centre again. That was just a poor decision from the jump.
Why approve the bar/wine room to open there in the first place? Secondly, who opens a bar in this economy? The owners took a big risk that’s clearly not paying off.
They took the lease in mid-2020, so at an even worse time. Their rent seems reasonable to me, under $7k/month for a space that large looks like a great deal.
The original owner(s) sold the business in 2023. Unclear if they took a loss or not; the current state of the business is definitely worth less than a year ago though.
It was originally a high end wine bar. No loud music/late night crowds. The lease changed hands and the new lease holder changed it into a ghetto hotspot.
So was Bananas
take the doors off and let the power bill run up. They won’t pay. CUC will cut them off. Shut the water off. Remove their parking places. Call the police on their “clients” every hour or so. They’ll leave.
$1.2m disgraceful. Who are the new owners.
This why I stay home and bun my ganja in peace. Only thing I be a threat to on a Friday night is a large plate of stew turtle and bulla & cheese.
Fight or shoot who? For wa? Lol I going watch netflix.. While unna allowing these hoodlums to mash up the place and drive home DUI you wanna lock me up for a spliff in my backyard.
Spoiler alert they called in sick on Monday morning because they were hungover, meanwhile me, the ‘pothead’ of the crew, open up shop first thing in the mornings!
Sound Jamaican – better keep a low profile, no wanted here.
I’m a generational Caymanian you $%#^@%#^&@ !!!!
All evidence to the contrary a.
Location, location, location.
Even if this type of operation were to open up in Camana Bay and operate in the same way, which they couldn’t, the end result would be the same. As another poster mentioned, it’s the music and ambiance or lack there of that attracts a certain crowd. Forbid this type of bar to play only jazz and trip-hop or even classical and see what smart behaved crowd it attracts.
Camana Bay landlords and tenants likely have excellent lease documents executed that were drafted by expert lawyers. It is unlikely this situation would ever arise.
Or playing country music for a few weeks will get rid of the idiots.
It’ll be a shame if the bar goes away. The food generally is pretty good.
I found the food to be over smoked, bruised, and a bit rubbery for my liking….
The bar can open in a more suitable location….dog city?
Windsor park.
The Swamp
on top the dump…where they belong!
you need to go to better places
Food is mediocre, drinks are terrible. A damn shame how they took a good bar and ran it into the ground.
The landlord should just change the locks. Security Centre is right there.
Can they get the water and power switched off too? no power and water will equal no business.
Take the doors off for repairs and don’t put them back on.
That’s what my father did when he wanted his tenants to move out and they wouldn’t leave.