Mall Owners General Growth Properties Don't Love Toby Keith or His Bar and Grill

Boomtown Entertainment, the company that operates all of Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill locations, had several locations in malls owned by General Growth Properties, a company which owns 120 regional malls in the United States totaling approximately 125 million square feet. In November of last year, Street Talk reported that the restaurant was going in a 9,000-square-foot leasehold between J.C. Penney and Sears in Columbia Mall and was expected to open in April. However, now that won't happen.

Since the announcement, GGP has canceled the lease and sued Boomtown for breaking their lease at the Tucson Mall in Arizona after I Love This Bar and Grill abruptly closed after being open for 14 months. GGP claimed that the Tucson mall spent over $4 million getting the 20,000+ square foot space ready and they were counting on the $1 million a year five year lease to recoup their expenses.

GGP has also cancelled the lease at the Columbia Mall location after the project fell behind on its construction schedule. The issues at the two malls caused GGP to terminate all of the Boomtown leases on top of the lawsuit. Boomtown is countersuing, alleging that GGP breached the lease.

Poor Toby! Between the tax issues and the cancelled leases/lawsuits, his restaurants definitely need more love!

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Toby Keith