Heathman May Sever Ties with McCormick & Schmick's

Photo of the Heathman courtesy Melissa Doroquez via Flickr

The Heathman Restaurant & Bar is on the outs with the hotel that shares its name, and a recent legal ruling may signal the restaurant will be forced out soon. The Portland Business Journal reports a Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge ruled last week that McCormick & Schmick's, the chain that operates the Heathman Restaurant, failed to meet the required $7.5 million in annual revenue to make it eligible to renew its lease in 2015. (The hotel filed suit against the restaurant back in April 2014, in an effort to break the lease.) McCormick & Schmick's denies it failed to meet revenue requirements, telling the PBJ that the restaurant makes $6 million per year, and the ruling is a "mistake based on a recession-era lease amendment."

In a follow-up, Landry's lawyer Steve Scheinthal called the lawsuit a ploy to get "more rent from us," saying that should the lease negotiations fall through, the Heathman Restaurant (presumably renamed) will move elsewhere in Portland. (Per the PBJ, Scheinthal claims McCormick & Schmick's has been approached with five other lease offers in "neigboring properties.")

The Houston-based Landry's Restaurants purchased the once-local McCormick & Schmick's chain for $131.6 million in late 2011. According to the lawsuit, the Heathman Restaurant has not met its revenue requirement since that year. In a statement, the Heathman Hotel's general manager said he "anticipates no changes in operations based on this limited judicial ruling, which simply confirmed The Hotel's prior understanding of its lease." McCormick & Schmick's lease for the Heathman Restaurant expires in September 30, 2015.
· Breakup looms for Heathman, McCormick & Schmick's [PBJ]
· Heathman Restaurant's Operator Threatens to Move It [PBJ]
· All Previous Heathman Restaurant Coverage [Eater PDX]