Port City Java fighting to keep its headquarters

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington’s coffee shop of choice is fighting over its headquarters. Port City Java was slapped with an eviction, but the company says it paid its rent.

There’s a stack of court documents that pertain to the eviction filed by the owners of the Port City Java headquarters building and also a restraining order filed by Port City Java that blocks the eviction for now.

It may sound boring but it’s the allegations in the documents that raise eyebrows. The documents claim Port City Java signed a lease for its headquarters back in 2003. Fast forward to 2006, and the documents say Port City Java founder Don Reynolds alerted his bookkeeper that the company had underpaid rent, taxes, insurance and maintenance fees for months, owing the landlord more than $50,000.

The documents then claim that the bookkeeper reviewed the lease on file and found that someone had changed the 2003 lease, but she began paying the increased rent rate on November 1, 2006. When Reynolds was removed from Port City Java in 2009, new CEO Steve Schnitzler did an audit. The court documents say that’s when Port City Java realized that it over payed more than $250,000 to the landlord, who also is an investor in Port City Java.

The audit and a letter were sent to the landlord pointing out that Port City Java had over paid its rent and would just credit what it already paid toward future rents.

According to the documents Inspirations of Wilmington, which owns the building, ignored the letter and filed to evict Port City Java. It fired back filing a temporary restraining order asking a superior court to review the allegations which now includes a forged lease.