“Wellesley's Tian Fu restaurant granted a reprieve”

Wellesley's Tian Fu restaurant granted a reprieve

Posted: 07 Oct 2010 07:22 PM PDT

By Sarah Thomas, Town Correspondent

Tian Fu, the Chinese restaurant in Wellesley Plaza that has been embroiled in a tenancy dispute for months, was granted more time to seek out a new location in a settlement announced by Whole Foods today.

The grocery store chain, which has said it was not aware of the restaurant's plight until last month, has worked with property manager Gravestar on a settlement for Tian Fu allowing it to remain at its current location for a little longer.

"We appreciate the agreement," said Li Zhenyu, owner of Tian Fu. "We will never forget how nice everyone in the community has been during this time."

The restaurant was informed this summer that its lease was being terminated after Gravestar evicted Star Market to make way for a Whole Foods. The restaurant's owners had asked to have their lease extended while they found a new location.

Zhenyu said that she and her husband, Jian Chen, were looking at a few other possible locations for Tian Fu within a 2-mile radius of Wellesley Plaza.

"I'm going to miss the garden I planted, and all the birds that used to come here and sing," Zhenyu said. "But the new restaurant we open will be better and more nice than this one, I think. Everyone will be happy."

Meanwhile, Whole Foods' current location at 278 Washington St. will remain open during the design and construction of the new store at Wellesley Plaza.

"We are pleased that this situation has been amicably resolved," said Laura Derba, Whole Foods Market Regional President, in the release. "We look forward to moving ahead with our plans for this exciting new store."

Sarah Thomas can be reached at sarah.m.thomas@gmail.com.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.