Locks changed on the Greeks restaurant without eviction notice

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Owners of a long time Wilmington restaurant say they showed up to work this morning to find someone else’s things inside and the locks changed.

The owners of The Greeks in Downtown Wilmington say another business started moving in early this morning.

After five years of running The Greeks restaurant, General Manager Yanni Papanikolaou never expected to show up to this.

“We came in and saw somebody else’s stuff in here,” Papanikolaou said.

Papanikolaou said their security cameras had been disabled and the owner of a pizza restaurant had moved all of his equipment in.

“They just thought they would be operating, which is illegal in a lot of ways,” Papanikolaou said.

Papanikolaou said they have had some issues with their landlord, including trying to get a leaky roof fixed.

“This all started because we told the landlord to fix those things,” Papanikolaou said.

Meanwhile, the owner of Gino’s Pizza, Gill Huff, was under the impression he would be moving into this spot today.

“We had a lease effective today, February 1, and the locks were changed last night,” Huff said.

Shortly after that, Papanikolaou called the police.

“I guess the legal system determined that the way it was done was not proper, so we have to remove our things from the restaurant until they get it resolved,” Huff said.

The building’s realtor, Tom Hietmen, said he did not file an eviction notice with the court, because he said the Greeks are more than $10,000 behind on rent.

“Really? I mean if you got a problem with me then give me 30 days,” Papanikolaou said. “We part ways. We’ve paid our dues. Like I said, May will be five years.”

We checked to see if this is legal. Lieutnant Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said you cannot legally evict someone without going through civil court.

The Greeks owners said they plan to start looking for another space somewhere downtown. The realtor, Tom Heitman, said he went to the courthouse and filed today.