Tampa’s Encore development and Faedo’s restaurant in a legal dust-up

TAMPA — In 2018, the popular Tampeno restaurant Faedo’s was heralded as the first retail outlet to open at Encore, the large-scale urban renewal project that replaced a public housing complex at the edge of downtown.

“It’s a gorgeous place and I see so many big things happening here,” restaurant owner Michelle Faedo said then.

“We think she’s going to do phenomenally well and set the pace for our other retail in town square,” echoed Tampa Housing Authority chief operating officer Leroy Moore.

Five years later and that relationship has crumbled. Encore is suing Faedo for nearly $160,000 in rent and other expenses, saying she broke her 5-year lease when she closed her business there in 2020.

Faedo contends she had to deal with serious air conditioning and plumbing problems, a lack of parking and no signage to tell people the restaurant existed, among other issues. She said when the pandemic hit and she was trying to keep her business afloat, she asked for two months of free rent she had been promised but was denied. Faedo said she was told “that if I didn’t like it, I needed to leave.”

“We did so,” Faedo wrote in a court filing last week in response to the lawsuit.

Beth Leytham, spokesperson for the Tampa Housing Authority, said in an emailed response to the Tampa Bay Times: “We strongly dispute all of Ms. Faedo’s post-lawsuit justifications for ceasing to pay her rent.”

Encore is a $425 million urban renewal project that rose after the Central Park Village public housing complex was demolished more than a decade ago. A Miami-based developer recently unveiled plans to build a 28-story luxury apartment building in the Encore redevelopment district, a project that will include a hotel and retail space.

Michelle Faedo’s Tampeno Cuisine was Encore’s first commercial outlet, serving Cuban sandwiches, black beans and yellow rice, deviled crabs, empanadas and other signature dishes in the 1,450-square-foot space on the ground floor. But Faedo said the housing authority failed to address numerous problems, and she closed there in 2020.

“I don’t think they’re ready for retail,” she said then. “We were doomed from the beginning.”

The lawsuit alleges Faedo owes $159,609 in rent, taxes, water bills, repairs, cleaning and other expenses.

“While we preferred to resolve this matter short of litigation, making extensive efforts over the course of a year and receiving no response, (the Tampa Housing Authority) has a duty and responsibility to protect the public taxpayer’s investment related to its commercial retail as well as affordable housing properties,” Leytham wrote.

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Faedo contended that she dealt with problems with the restaurant’s toilets, AC issues caused by “faulty construction” and an infestation of roaches.

“I may have left before my lease was up, but the lease was breached several times during my stay by Encore,” she wrote in the court filing, in which indicated she would like to countersue for lost revenue and pain and suffering.

No court date has been set.

Faedo currently operates her restaurant at the first floor of the busy County Center high-rise in the heart of downtown Tampa.

“It’s doing great,” she said.