The owner behind a high-end restaurant and whiskey bar concept is being sued for eviction and alleged damages for failing to uphold a lease to build out about 17,700 rentable square feet in Five Points in downtown Sarasota.
Court records show the landlord of the property at 1400 Main Street alleges Warren Sarasota LLC, the company connected to Damn Good Hospitality and behind the Warren Sarasota restaurant, owes more than $110,000 in unpaid common area maintenance and other additional rent.
The lawsuit also alleges the company did not invest the required $4 million into construction, left the property damaged and unusable, and caused the landlord to lose income after terminating another tenant’s lease.
The landlord also sued Jeffrey John, CEO of Damn Good Hospitality group, alleging he personally guaranteed the lease.
A Herald-Tribune reporter attempted to reach John through affiliated Warren restaurant locations for comment but has not yet heard back as of the publication of this article.
The current landlord, EB Warren’s LLC, seeks eviction, possession of the property, monetary damages and enforcement of the personal lease guaranty.
According to previous Herald-Tribune reporting, the site at 1400 Main Street has a long dining history despite the property’s second floor not being previously leased as a restaurant. The space where the shoe store Fit2Run was previously located before its lease was terminated was once Patrick’s Bar and Restaurant, which moved to its current home at 1481 Main Street in 2011.
That corner of Five Points also once housed a food court in the 1980s, according to a commercial broker who negotiated the lease transaction.
The restaurant’s owner — Damn Good Hospitality — already operates two other Warren locations located in Delray and Naples. The Naples location opened late 2023, according to the Naples Daily News.
As of the publication of this story, court records did not yet show a response from the defendants in the case. A non-jury trial is currently set for July 2027, court records show.
Dan Guarnieri, the attorney representing EB Warren’s LLC, was unable to provide comment without consent from his client which he was unable to obtain prior to the publication of this article he said via email.
What is the lawsuit claiming?
The lease was executed in December 2023 with the property’s prior owner entities, with EB Warren’s LLC becoming the landlord effective Jan. 9, 2025.
The lease started in early 2024, with Damn Good Hospitality agreeing to pay ongoing costs including taxes, insurance and maintenance fees, and spend at least $4 million within two years on building out the approximately 17,706 rentable square foot space, according to the complaint.
By December 2024, Damn Good Hospitality exercised its contractual right and required the landlord to terminate Fit2Run’s lease with the intention of promptly securing a building permit and starting construction on the vacated space.
After Fit2Run vacated, Damn Good Hospitality began demolishing existing improvements in the property but failed to proceed with the required buildout. They also failed to secure a building permit with the City of Sarasota, according to the complaint.
“Tenant’s actions rendered the Property untenantable and deprived Landlord of use and rental value, thereby compounding Landlord’s damages and constituting additional events of default under the Lease and Addendum,” the complaint states.
The complaint claims that Warren Sarasota also failed to pay additional rent for a year, totaling more than $110,000. It also alleges the company stopped paying professional and design consultants including Hoyt Architects and TAG Engineering, which resulted in the suspension of services. This left the property “in a complete state of disrepair and exposed to the elements.”
At least two notices of default were delivered to the tenant — one in October 2025 and the second on January 2026 — but were not paid or otherwise cured, according to the complaint. The landlord’s October 2025 notice of default referenced unresolved city permitting comments, including roof drainage issues.
Gabriela Szymanowska covers the criminal justice, courts and legal system for the Herald-Tribune. Reach out with a news tip to gszymanowska@gannett.com. Support local journalism by subscribing
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Failed downtown Sarasota restaurant developer sued over $110K dispute
Reporting by Gabriela Szymanowska, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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