Felipe’s Fights To Extend Hours

After a year of negotiations, a dispute between Felipe’s Taqueria and its landlord may keep the Harvard Square Mexican food restaurant from extending its late-night hours.

During a June 20 hearing before the Cambridge License Commission (CLC), Commission Chairman Richard Scali postponed a ruling on the extension until a July 25 CLC meeting.

If granted the extended hours, Felipe’s would be one of the few establishments in Harvard Square able to serve food until 4 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Felipe’s would also be allowed to operate until 1 a.m. on Sundays and 2 a.m. on all other nights.

The delayed ruling is the result of a ten-line letter to the CLC from John DiGiovanni, president of both the Harvard Square Business Association and Trinity Property Management, which owns the shopping complex where Felipe’s is located. In the letter, which was dated October 28, 2005, DiGiovanni complained of outstanding “issues related to their request...including after hours access to areas of the building, security, [and] trash removal.”

However, Felipe’s co-owner Thomas J. Brush said at the recent hearing that DiGiovanni “has been unable or unwilling to specify in any way, shape or form what needs to change.”

“We’re trying to...get him to articulate, to define what those issues are, because they have not been defined up to this period in time,” Brush said of DiGiovanni in an interview with The Crimson.

DiGiovanni declined to comment for this story, stating in an e-mail that “it is my policy not to discuss landlord/tenant relations in the newspaper.”

The tension is only the most recent chapter in a long quarrel between Brush and DiGiovanni over the extended hours.

Felipe’s first requested a CLC hearing on the subject in June 2005, Brush said, but postponed the proceeding at DiGiovanni’s request after the landlord insisted they meet to discuss “some issues.” Brush said he had “no idea that our landlord wasn’t totally on board with us.”

According to Brush, at the subsequent meeting, DiGiovanni proposed raising the rental rate on the restaurant’s current five-year lease. The lease, which Brush submitted to the CLC and is on public record, was signed in December 2003 and includes an option for a five-year extension with pre-determined rental rates. During the meeting, Brush said, there was no discussion of trash removal, building access, or security issues.

In response to DiGiovanni’s proposal, Brush said he would consider a higher rental rate on the current lease in exchange for the option of a second five-year extension.

But Brush said the parties abandoned their efforts by August 2005, disagreeing about how to determine rental rates for the extension. Brush and his co-owner, Felipe Herrera, rescheduled their CLC hearing for October 11, 2005, at which time DiGiovanni first voiced his operational concerns about the extended hours.

Currently in the middle of the third year of their original lease, Felipe’s pays $70,200 a year in rent, plus fees for services such as insurance, security, and trash disposal. The lease enumerates minimum hours of operation for the restaurant, but it does not specify maximum hours.

This past December, Felipe’s served a two-day suspension for selling food after its CLC-approved hours. However, the restaurant recently finished a six-month probationary period with no further violations.

There has also been little resistance of late from Cambridge residents to Felipe’s push for extended hours. Jinny Nathans of the Harvard Square Defense Fund said she is unaware of any Fund members who attended the CLC meeting to voice their objections.

With so little resistance from neighbors, Brush said he feels frustrated with the delays DiGiovanni’s accusations are causing.

“The whole thing, we’ve felt, has been very unfair,” Brush said. “There’s never been a complaint that I’m aware of towards Felipe’s, any trouble with noise, [or] disturbances. I mean, nothing has ever happened in two and a half years.”

Given the “strong community support” for the extended hours, he said the store may consider moving to a different location if the struggle with DiGiovanni isn’t resolved soon.

However, Brush said Felipe’s would remain part of Harvard Square; “this is our base.”

Brush said that Felipe’s and DiGiovanni will be in communication during the coming weeks, as the July 25 CLC meeting approaches.

“There will be a lot occurring over the next month that will really determine the direction and tone of our discussions,” he said, adding that he hopes to resolve the issues amicably. “I think that our chances of coming to a positive ruling will be increased if we keep things on a positive note, at least through the 25th.”

“And after that point,” Brush said, chuckling, “I think the gloves will be off.”

—Staff writer Nicholas K. Tabor can be reached at ntabor@fas.harvard.edu.