Hollywood theaters asks to deposit rent payments with court

MUMBAI: Saying it is concerned about the financial stability of its landlord, College Station LLC, Hollywood Theaters has asked College Station to deposit disputed rent payments with the Federal Court handling a lawsuit between the two businesses.

Hollywood sued College Station in May, claiming it is owed $878,471 in reimbursements related to the downtown theater‘s construction and is being overcharged for monthly rent.

Less than a month later, College Station filed a counterclaim alleging Hollywood failed to abide the terms of its lease, which include providing College Station with quarterly and annual earnings reports that could cause its rent to be higher.

In a Wednesday filing, Hollywood asked to be allowed to deposit about $4,250 of the disputed rent payment with the court until the matter is resolved, due to Hollywood‘s "concerns over the financial health of Defendant College Station."

The purpose of the move "is to safeguard the disputed funds, not to avoid any obligations it may have under the lease," the filing says.

College Station attorney Frank Evans was out of his office Friday and the company‘s owner, developer Scott Tillman, did not return a call for comment.

Other than the movie theater, Tillman has yet to acquire any tenants for the College Station project, which includes about 35,000 square feet of retail space beneath the College Station car park.

Tillman paid the city $1.25 million for the property, but took out a $3 million city loan

to build the shell of the adjacent movie theater.

In lieu of property taxes, he is required to make annual payments to the city to help reimburse the cost of the $10.9 million parking garage.