Beloved Scarborough restaurant Real McCoy could get a reprieve

Real McCoy could stay put.

A solicitor for the beloved family fast food restaurant in Scarborough believes the lease for space on Markham Road south of Ellesmere Road was improperly terminated and says his client intends to reopen at the same location on January 2 rather than looking for a new home.

« I have reviewed the lease documentation and we have found that there is no rescission right for the landlord to have done what he did – and that he issued this notice of rescission to my client , essentially demanding that he leave at the end of this month, and it’s not allowed to do that,” Lydia Pilch, founder and lead attorney at Rgenesis Legal, said in a phone interview Monday.

The current lease expires at the end of March 2024 « and until the parties reach an agreement to the contrary, my client intends to stay and reopen in January, after taking a few days of well-deserved vacation », he said. she declared. . “But otherwise, the owner has our position, we have communicated it to him. We haven’t heard a response, but we expect there will be one.

Pilch added that « we are in amicable talks with them to come to such a decision. »

The Star could not reach a representative for Lash Active Plaza Corp., which has plans for a 34-story condo on the site.

George Mihail took over The Real McCoy, the family business which opened in Brimorton Plaza in 1969. Over the years it has become a Scarborough favorite for burgers, pizzas and milkshakes.

He’s even been featured in two music videos, « EST (Eastern Standard Time) » by Tona (the MC hails from Scarborough) and « Lovers in a Dangerous Time » by the Barenaked Ladies.

Mihail and his wife Sophie were preparing to shut down the place from Christmas Eve – when dedicated customers and well-wishers came in droves to say goodbye – and find him a new home.

But Mihail sought legal advice « kind of like a Hail Mary, because he didn’t want to go, » Pilch said. “He wanted to involve a leasing lawyer, which I am, to review the documentation and see if it was valid. I have seen it over and over again and nothing gives them the right to do so.

If the landlord wants to go ahead with the lease termination plan, « then he’ll have to come to an agreement with my client in the form of some kind of settlement, » she said.

However, she added, Mihail “loves this place. He wants to be in it. He loves it there.

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