Daiquiri Factory, controversial Spokane bar, gets evicted

Less than five months after opening amid public outcry about one of its drink names, the controversial Daiquiri Factory in downtown Spokane was shuttered Monday morning with assistance from sheriff’s deputies.

The bar’s owner, Jamie Pendleton, said in an email the bar would miss the upcoming Hoopfest, but he expected the property on Wall Street to be returned to him following a scheduled hearing next month.

“We will be back,” Pendleton said, claiming his landlord, FPA Crescent, had forced him out of business by rejecting checks he’d sent in response to eviction proceedings begun in May. Pendleton has said in court filings his landlord tried to alter the terms of his seven-year lease with addendums and added charges after public furor over the drink name “Date Grape Kool-Aid” swept across social media and the national news in February.

Todd Reuter, a Spokane attorney representing FPA Crescent, said Monday afternoon his clients had taken possession of the property at 121 N. Wall St.

Items belonging to the business left inside the location are being stored at the request of Pendleton, Reuter said.

“Eventually, we will begin looking for a new tenant,” he added.

The Daiquiri Factory lost a last-ditch legal effort to keep its doors open Thursday, failing to come up with the $30,000 bond ordered by a judge to delay the eviction. Spokane Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins set the eviction in motion earlier this month, agreeing with FPA that Pendleton had failed to pay more than $2,200 according to the terms of his lease.

Pendleton is trying to overturn the eviction. FPA began bullying his business shortly after the uproar over the drink name, Pendleton said, asking him to sign a lease addendum that would have allowed termination of their agreement within 30 days and complaining about loud music.

Tompkins will hear those arguments at a court hearing tentatively scheduled for next month. FPA Crescent says the lease was terminated in May, meaning Pendleton’s continued use of the property in June entitles the landlord to an additional $7,000.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Gregory said Monday that deputies were on-scene to serve as peacekeepers. A stabbing was reported at the bar early Saturday, according to the Spokane Police Department. A man was taken to the hospital with injuries not thought to be life-threatening and criminal charges are unlikely, police said.

The eviction is just one in a series of legal woes besetting the Daiquiri Factory. Gonzaga University has sued Pendleton, saying he stole trademarks for use in promotions during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March. Pendleton answered, saying Gonzaga had not registered the allegedly stolen trademarks.

But Gonzaga’s attorneys fired another salvo last week, saying the trademarks cited in Pendleton’s response were outdated. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for August.

Pendleton also faces a lawsuit from an Atlanta bar owner who said she used “Daiquiri Factory” years before the Spokane bar opened. That case is also scheduled to continue in a federal courtroom this summer.

In his email, the embattled bar owner said he would continue to fight the claims against him.

“The conspiracy continues,” Pendleton said. “But when all the facts come out … and we are restored possession … we will see if local media will be too embarrassed to report on it.”