Complete Kitchen to close by end of year
Nantucket Island Resorts wins judgement on overdue rent
BY MARY LANCASTER
She has been selling all manner of culinary ware at 25 Centre St. since 1990. But by the end of this year The Complete Kitchen, owned by Kim McLeod, will close its doors for good after her landlord, Nantucket Island Resorts, won a district court judgement regarding McLeod's rent default.

According to the court document dated Oct. 20, McLeod owes NIR $25,000, an amount disputed in a counterclaim filed by McLeod's attorney. Nevertheless, NIR won the judgement and has agreed to suspend an eviction until Dec. 31 when McLeod's lease would naturally expire.

Though NIR dismissed a claim for monetary damages, it did so without prejudice which allows the company, owned by Stephen Karp, to pursue damages if McLeod fails to meet her payment obligations under the lease prior to moving out of the building.

In place of McLeod's business, the new tenant at the corner of India Street will be Ceri, a women's clothing shop owned by Ellen Shapiro whose husband Michael Bloomberg founded Tweeter. Shapiro has been renting 13 Centre St. which belongs to the J. Pepper Frazier company, and she also has a store in the Atrium Mall at Chestnut Hill. The mall was being sold from Karp to Simon Properties when she moved there.

"But I'm happy to be his tenant," Shapiro said of her upcoming relationship with Karp. She plans to renovate 25 Centre St. for a Daffodil Weekend opening. "This is a better opportunity for us. The space is twice as large as where we are now. I'm sorry to see Kim close. I went to her store a lot, but if she's closing I'm happy to have her store."

As for McLeod, she is reinventing herself rather than let this situation get the best of her. She admitted she has struggled to make the rent since the economy was affected after 9/11, but under her prior lease with Sherburne Associates Realty Trust she was able to pay late from time to time and keep her tenancy.

According to a counterclaim and request for jury trial filed Sept. 28 by McLeod's attorney Keith Yankow, NIR, after buying much of the downtown property from Sherburne, never gave notice that the practice of accepting late rent payments would change.

Asserting that NIR, through its base rental rates, percentage leases and other terms with tenants has artificially increased the value of island commercial rents in contravention of the anti-trust laws, Yankow maintained that in fact, NIR breached its obligations. He listed failure to maintain the building and cure defective conditions violating the building code within a reasonable period from obtaining ownership.

Still, McLeod must move on. In the middle of September, Michael Farrell, her former partner in Eat No Evil which was a prepared foods area in the store, took the first step by leaving the island for Denver. He said he and his wife Gina had discussed relocating for some time, and when his six-year lease as chef at The Summer House expired they decided the time was right to go.

"I wanted to keep Eat No Evil open year-round so I could return and maintain it, but it wasn't going to work out because of the lease," said Farrell. "The lease was yanked out from beneath us. I hope people rally around Kim. We hoped to be there for the long term. It's very sad for everyone involved."

McLeod is trying to sell the store's kitchen equipment now in preparation for new plans she has cooked up. She will teach Pilates, attend an on-line interior design school and has already launched a new business called The Completed Kitchen renovating and furnishing incidentals needed and wanted in clients' home kitchens. She did her first last winter for a woman here who was so pleased she asked McLeod to redo her Boston kitchen.

She intends to continue selling her specialty items such as handcrafted wooden bowls and private label condiments and preserves on Completekitchen.com. And perhaps one of her favorite ideas is to start an organic cleaning service. She recently registered the name Real Clean and hopes to open by or before April with a responsible, experienced crew who will also offer concierge-level services such as grocery shopping and flower arranging.

Yet, in spite of her directions, McLeod is sad to close The Complete Kitchen in a neighborhood she has enjoyed for so long.

"I love my customers," she said. "I love cooking for my customers, and I'm going to miss being in town."

I