Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003232748
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The local company filed a $3.15 million lawsuit against its landlord and Harris Teeter Inc., a major food-store chain, in Montgomery County Circuit Court in late January.
Wades President Lowell Wade hinted Thursday that the case may be settled out of court.
"There is discussion and correspondence going on between ourselves and our attorneys," Wade said. "And we hope something can work out that we will be the major supermarket in that shopping center."
Wades Foods, which owns six supermarkets in the New River Valley, took over the old A&P space in 1982. Wade said options expire in 1998.
He said the store is between 14,000 and 15,000 square feet, but is trying to negotiate an expansion to roughly double its size.
"I think anyone that is going to run a supermarket in that end of town probably needs 25,000 to 30,000 square feet," he said.
The suit alleges that Mycor Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., broke its lease with Wades when it signed up Harris Teeter to occupy the old Leggett store in November.
Under its lease with Wades, the suit says, Mycor could not rent to another supermarket, grocery store, meat market or produce store any space in the center with larger square footage than Wades Supermarket.
"My legal folks said I had a perfect right to do it, and I did it," said Mycor President Fred Myers, who also is general partner of Gables Associates.
In a one-page response to the suit, Mycor asks for dismissal on the grounds that Harris Teeter's lease is with Gables Associates, a limited partnership, and not Mycor.
Harris Teeter officials were unavailable for comment.
Jack Akers, manager of Leggett at the New River Valley Mall, said the department store occupied about 32,000 square feet in Gables before it moved to the mall two years ago.
However, it was unclear how much space Harris Teeter has agreed to rent.
The suit says that Wades "will suffer irreparable and continuing damage." The supermarket is asking for an injunction against the other store opening, or $3.15 million in damages from Mycor.
The suit claims that as a direct result of Harris Teeter moving in, Wades would lose $2.5 million in profit and be forced to close.
The remainder of the monetary damages sought comes from a total of $650,000 Wades claims to have spent on improvements and advertising its Blacksburg store.
Harris Teeter, in its response, denies the building it has leased is larger than Wades. The food chain also denies that Wades would lose $2.5 million in profits or suffer irreparable damage.
by CNB