Dive Brief:
- A landlord has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the company is breaching its lease agreement for a planned Amazon Fresh store in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.
- The delayed opening is at a proposed storefront in the Willow Grove Shopping Center where Federal Realty Investment Trust, which filed the lawsuit in March, claims Amazon “has intentionally refused to complete its work, commence operations or pay rent,” as stated in the complaint.
- This lawsuit comes as Amazon Fresh revaluates its expansion, first pausing its rollout in February and now reportedly canceling some store openings.
Dive Insight:
Federal Realty Investment Trust submitted its complaint against the online retailer to the Montgomery County Civil Court on March 21. Amazon filed its response to the suit on May 8, according to court filings.
In its response, Amazon denied the landlord’s claims and stated it has no obligation to begin paying rent, claiming Federal Realty Investment Trust “has failed to satisfy the landlord work completion date conditions.”
Federal Realty Investment said in its complaint that the claim that it’s in default of its landlord obligations is false.
Amazon signed the lease for the roughly 31,000-square-foot Willow Grove shopping center location in April 2020, with rent and other payments totaling more than $71,000 per month, per the Philadelphia Business Journal. The real estate developer is seeking nearly $180,000 in unpaid rent and expenses.
According to court filings and the Philadelphia Business Journal, Amazon informed Federal Realty Investment Trust during an October conference call about its decision “not to open all retail stores” it originally planned to in 2023.
Federal Realty Investment Trust is being represented by Philadelphia law firm Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy and Amazon by Greenberg Traurig. No court hearings have been scheduled and no motion or petition has been filed in this case.
Amazon reportedly has five other Fresh store planned for the Philadelphia area.
Amazon reportedly put its not-yet-opened stores in the Twin Cities up for sublease earlier this month, and local news reports have also revealed that Amazon is backing out of opening a planned Amazon Fresh store in Dearborn, Michigan. The brick-and-mortar grocery brand, which debuted in 2020, currently has just over 40 locations across eight states and Washington, D.C.
