Narsi's loses another round

<p>Embattled restaurateur Narsi Samii has lost another round in his legal fight to prevent his eviction from Coddingtown Mall.</p><p>A judge ruled this week that the mall can evict Narsi’s Hof Brau to make way for a national chain like Cheesecake Factory that may help revitalize the aging center.</p><p>“They’ve destroyed my life,” an emotional Samii said Thursday as he worked the register at his restaurant as he has done for 26 years.</p><p>Despite his mounting legal bills, Samii said he will continue to fight what he feels is unfair treatment at the hands of the mall’s new co-owners, Simon Property Group. He plans to appeal the ruling. “This is round nine,” Samii said. “We still have six to go.”</p><p>The ruling gives Simon Property Group, which purchased a 50 percent interest in the mall from Codding Enterprises in 2005, the right to take possession of the restaurant space in 90 days. But whether or when it will do so remains unclear.</p><p>“We are not in a position to speculate regarding the future of Narsi’s or the space it occupies,” mall manager Laura Kozup said in a statement. “We are always actively engaged in leasing efforts to attract new local, regional and national tenants to the shopping center, and as part of that initiative we will continue to pursue tenants who would enhance Coddingtown Mall.”</p><p>The mall moved to evict the restaurant in 2007, claiming Samii violated the terms of his lease that require the restaurant to generate a certain amount of revenue per square foot.</p><p>Samii contends that portion of the lease is invalid. He claims developer Hugh Codding had personally told him in 1983 to focus on bringing customers into the mall and not to worry about meeting revenue goals.</p><p>The revenue clause of the lease was later invoked by Simon, which took over responsibility for managing the center and hopes to attract new tenants.</p><p>Whole Foods Market, which plans to open at the northwest corner of the mall in 2010, is an example of the kind of national retailer Simon hopes to attract.</p><p>“They were looking for a way to kick him out,” said Dan Crowley, Samii’s attorney.</p><p>The two sides reached a tentative agreement last fall to move the restaurant to a smaller location on the south side of the mall. But the deal fell through because they disagreed over the terms of a lease.</p><p>Samii estimated it would cost him more than $800,000 to rebuild his restaurant in the new location, but Simon would only agree to pay $173,000 to help move him.</p><p>Unable to afford the move, Samii chose to continue his court battle, which he says has now cost him $250,000. A trial was held in Petaluma in July.</p><p>The judge in the case, Dean Beaupre, found that all the evidence showed the revenue clause in the contract was valid. The fact that Samii “assumed” Hugh Codding had waived that clause following a conversation does not nullify that part of the lease, Beaupre found.</p><p>“It is clear that Mr. Samii was always concerned about the requirement, but his claim that he did not agree to it is false,” Beaupre wrote in a ruling issued Monday.</p><p>Beaupre noted that sales at the restaurant have fallen by 30 percent in recent years. The restaurant has failed to meet the gross sales target of $150 per square foot by $400,000 to $800,000 for the past several years.</p><p>But Samii counters that all businesses at Coddingtown have fallen off because of the poor economy and what he says is the mismanagement of the mall.</p><p>He also claims the attorneys in the case did not allow him to adequately present his case, preventing the judge from fully understanding the events that transpired back in 1983.</p><p>A close inspection of the documents shows that he never signed a final lease with the revenue provisions in it, Samii said. He suggested Simon’s copy of the lease has been forged.</p><p>Crowley said he feels Samii’s side of the case was fully explored at trial and rejected by the judge. He agrees Samii has been treated poorly.</p><p>“I think he’s a very honest man and I think he’s a very trusting man, and I feel very bad for him,” Crowley said.</p><p>After finishing lunch Thursday, Santa Rosa resident Bette Staley, 82, said she would be sad to see the restaurant forced out and replaced by a chain.</p><p>“It is hard to find a restaurant that is welcoming and comfortable and has great food,” she said.</p>