New Haven, CT
The landlord for the now-closed Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop is offering to keep the space vacant for two months to give supporters of “The Doodle” a chance to create a sustainable business plan.

But the offer from Tyco owner Michael Iannuzzi Sr. drew an accusation from Yankee Doodle operator Rick Beckwith that Iannuzzi “still refuses to change the unreasonable lease terms that initiated the (restaurant’s) financial problems.”

When Beckwith abruptly shut down Jan. 29 after 58 years of his family’s doing business on Elm Street, charges and denials erupted as to whether he had been victimized by high rent and added charges.

Beckwith and his many supporters, including Yale alumni from around the country, alleged Iannuzzi and his former Tyco partner, John Parker, charged an unreasonable rent as well as requiring him to pay property taxes and utility costs. Advertisement

But Iannuzzi, who continues to call himself “a friend and neighbor of the Beckwith famly,” has issued a three-page statement denying he contributed to the Yankee Doodle’s demise.

Yale University officials also have told Beckwith they are willing to discuss offering him a rental deal. But in brief conversations with the New Haven Register, Beckwith has seemed more interested in trying to return to the site where his grandfather, Lewis Beckwith Sr., began in 1950.

Iannuzzi’s statement said he will “keep the Yankee Doodle’s location vacant, absorbing the cost ourselves, for a period of two months to give ‘The Doodle’ the time it needs to get to the root of its economic issues, develop a successful business plan and raise the funds needed to reopen and sustain this business for future generations.”

Iannuzzi said attacks on him — which have included calls for a Tyco boycott — are “unwarranted, unjustified and unnecessary.”

Iannuzzi said in an interview rent increases over the past several years had been “inconsequential” and the last rent was about $1,800 per month. He said Beckwith also paid a small percentage of the property tax, a portion of the building’s water bill and the restaurant’s heating and electricity costs.

Beckwith’s backers have charged he was paying well above what Yale charges its tenants. Iannuzzi said the dollar-per-square-foot rent was disproportionately large because of the property’s small size.

In his statement, Iannuzzi said, “While some may think my proposal to save ‘The Doodle’ is to just ‘give him the space’ at a reduced rental rate, let me make it clear that is not my plan. The ‘Doodle’ rent is what the market bears...”

When interviewed, Iannuzzi said Beckwith owes several months of back rent. “We gave Rick a new lease last June. If I’d wanted him to go, I wouldn’t have renewed it. I told him then, ‘Just pay your rent, as your father did.’ But then (late rent payments) started all over again.”

In his e-mail statement, Beckwith said the two-month offer is “wonderful news.”

But Beckwith then made his charge about “unreasonable lease terms.” He added, “Once there is a new lease, we will know that Tyco is indeed committed to saving ‘The Doodle.’”

Beckwith also said, “Tyco needs to stop attacking ‘The Doodle’ and my family and stop misrepresenting the situation in the media.” Beckwith did not respond to the Register’s follow-up questions.

Originally published online here: http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FNHR%2FNews%2FNew+Haven&r21.content=%2FNHR%2FNews%2FNew+Haven%2FTopStoryList_Story_1540662