Thuan Khuc is a dark-haired man with creases under his eyes that betray his lack of sleep. He arrives at his Sunnyvale bagel shop, called iBagel, at 4 a.m. And he spends many of his working hours thinking about whether his business has a future.
“There’s a lot of trouble with the landlord,” he told me. “They’ve given us a hard time. For eight years with the previous landlord, no problem. Now we have a lot of problems.”
Khuc and his fellow tenants at the Moffett Plaza shopping center, a 1980s-style strip mall at 250-270 Java Drive, are in revolt against a landlord who has plans to build a six-story hotel on the site. They say they’ve received 3-day eviction notes, huge rent raises and faulty complaints about alterations.
The Khuc family’s lawyer, Gautam Dutta, says the issue isn’t so much the hotel: The tenants he represents understand that the 1980s-style mall can be demolished and replaced.
But they want their leases honored under the law. To protect its claims, the Khuc family has now brought suit in federal court against the landlord and developer, Peninsular Investments.
“In simple terms, this continuous harassment has stressed out my clients,” Dutta told me. “They are thinking about this all the time. They’re worried about whether they’ll be able to stay open for business.”
‘True facts’
The president of Peninsular, Ganendra “Jay” Singh, declined to comment in detail, citing the litigation. But he has rejected this interpretation, saying that Khuc’s claims “are contrary to the true facts.” He’s also suggested that the tenants are using the newspaper to gain negotiating leverage.
What you quickly learn when you talk to the folks at Moffett Plaza, which is just down the street from NetApp headquarters, is that this isn’t just a story of business, of leases bought out or exchanged. It’s a story of families who have struggled to make their way in America.
Khuc, for example, arrived in America with his family in 1991, a Vietnamese refugee whose prospects in his homeland were dimmed because his father had worked for the Americans. He has two children — aged 9 and 3 — and his business is his sole livelihood.
“We work hard for the kids, so they go to school, study hard,” he told me. “My generation doesn’t have much education.”
Khuc has worked hard to improve his shop and the next-door Dr. Burrito, which is run by his brother. He says he had permission from the previous landlord to make alterations, like adding a walk-in refrigerator and removing one of two restrooms from customer use.
Rent increase
The bagel shop owner says he’s now gotten legal notice that the changes have violated his lease, which he says has five years left to run. Meanwhile, the rent for Dr. Burrito has been increased from $2,500 to $3,400 per month, a 36 percent bump.
A few steps away, at the Stop N Go Market, the owner, Boban Jose, 62, has an even sadder tale. Almost two years ago, his 25-year-old son, Rinil Boban, committed suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Since then, the former VTA employee has wanted to sell out to care for his grieving wife — and has even contracted with a second cousin to take over his lease. He says the landlord told him — after much delay — that the lease would only be extended by 18 months. At that, the new owners declined.
“They (Peninsular) know what my circumstances are,” he told me. “Any human being would not deny my request.”
Peninsular’s CEO, Singh, told me by email that “we are close to reaching agreement” with Jose. (Dutta, who also represents Jose, says only that the two sides are in talks.)
Is Singh right when he says the tenants are seeking leverage by going public? Probably. But I have seen their paperwork. And I’m convinced that the new landlord has acted brashly and insensitively.
In a case like this, you sit down and negotiate a way to buy out the tenants’ leases, recognizing their investment in the property. It’s their lifeblood, not just a pile of bricks.
Contact Scott Herhold at 408-275-0917 or sherhold@mercurynews.com. Twitter.com/scottherhold.
