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Greystone Hall owner, pair are unable to reach agreement on new lease
By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Published on Friday, Dec 28, 2007
Downtown Akron's historic Greystone Hall will be without caterers as of Monday.
Sisters Cindy Bach and Cathy White, co-owners of Greystone Caterers at the hall, are closing their business after they couldn't come to a new lease agreement with the building's owner.
California developer and Akron native Jeffrey O'Neil purchased the building at 103 S. High St., the former Masonic Temple, in 2000, and gave the building a multi-million-dollar renovation.
The following year, the city of Akron bought the building from O'Neil for $2.6 million, as a form of a loan and structured a 15-year lease deal for him. After paying off the 15-year lease, O'Neil would be given full ownership of the building.
O'Neil maintains control of the building and has leased it to Greystone Caterers through his company, Greystone Real Property Co., since 2001.
Bach and White issued a news release Thursday, saying that they had been unable to reach a lease agreement with O'Neil's company. Bach and
White did not return a phone call seeking comment on Thursday.
''The proposed agreement states a substantial increase in rental expense. Though other parties including the city of Akron have provided assistance during these delicate negotiations, the parties have not been able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement,'' their news release states.
''This is strictly a business decision. While Greystone Catering has experienced a successful operation, we cannot continue to maintain our level of service, quality and food standards with such a substantial increase,'' Bach stated in the release.
O'Neil said that wasn't the case.
He said the sisters asked him for specific lease terms and when he agreed to them, they still refused to sign.
He said the 60,000-square-foot building was originally leased for more than $20,000 per month. ''They've never paid anywhere near that,'' O'Neil said. He said several years ago Bach and White went to the city and asked for a rent reduction, and have been paying less than $8,000 per month.
For their new lease, the pair wanted to parcel off the building and only lease specific rooms, and not be responsible for the upper floors of the building. O'Neil said he agreed to that and had a utility survey performed on the building at the pair's request to determine what percentage of the utility bills they would be responsible for paying. The floors of the building do not have separate utility meters, he said.
Even after the utility terms were added to the lease, the sisters still would not sign, O'Neil maintains.
''There's a point past which I won't go and I guess we've just hit that point,'' he said.
Akron's Deputy Mayor David Lieberth said the city tried to work with both sides, to no avail.
''We tried to be as influential with both sides as we could to act in an appropriate way to keep the building occupied and keep Greystone in business,'' Lieberth said. ''We want to see the building used and we will work with him (O'Neil) to find another use for the property.''
In its news release, Greystone Caterers said they were taking steps to help any customers who have events booked. ''Those clients with events currently booked are being notified and any deposits are being returned,'' the release states.
''The future of Greystone Catering has not been determined at this time,'' the release states.
O'Neil said he does not have a caterer lined up to take over, so anyone who contracted for a wedding or other event with Greystone Catering would be out of luck.
''If I can find a new tenant,'' he said, ''I would work with those people to try and get them to honor anything that's on the book.''
O'Neil said in the short term, he would consider allowing individuals to rent the hall and bring in their own caterers.
Until last spring, Greystone Catering had offered a daily lunch buffet, but stopped it to focus on its lunch delivery business, which was started in October 2006, Bach said at the time.
White recently began bottling the company's signature White Chili under the brand name Cece & Friends Pantry, according to the release.
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
Downtown Akron's historic Greystone Hall will be without caterers as of Monday.
Get the full article here.
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