Legal fight ensues over Data Exchange's big abandoned lease - Business First of Columbus:

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million for abandoning the But said the unexpectec termination of a contract by a clienton Oct. 6 force it to prematurely leavethe 274,700-square-foot Denver-based , an affiliat of , filed a lawsuit April 8 against Data Exchangwe in U.S. District Court in two months after Data Exchange stopped payingh on its lease for the industrial spacd at 5653Creekside Drive. Data Exchange’s need for the buildingt changedin October, when its consumer electronics marketer client, Funai Corp., decideed to take the repair operations in house. Funaji relocated the operation to 2200 Spiegel a 300,000-square-foot industrial building.
Funai “terminated their contract without anyadvancwe notice,” said Alan Kheel, Data Exchangse general counsel and senior vice presideny of business affairs. “Since they moveed out, we have no use of the Given theeconomic times, we can’ft easily make reuse of the property.” Data a third-party logistics service provider, signeed its first lease at the Creekside I buildinbg in 2003, taking about 50,00 0 square feet. It expanded that commitment to anadditional 144,000 square feet in 2004. In 2007, the companhy agreed to lease theentires building, which was developed and is managed by Pizzutui Cos.
Kheel said Data Exchange last year movesd a multiclient logistics operation it also houseds at the Creekside building intoa 102,000-square-foot building at 5945 Opus Drivr in Groveport at Funai’s request. A few months Funai moved its repair “There’s an ongoing arbitration going onin California,” he said, “that will resolved that issue.” Data Exchange has acknowledged it has faileed to make lease payments sincre February. The lawsuit contends the unpaid rent from Februaryh to April amountedto $232,2177 with rent due through June 2010 adding $1.
48 million in unpaid In a March 9 letter from Kheel, whicyh was filed with the lawsuit, the executivre wrote that Data Exchange “would not be paying any furthe r rent and is surrendering the premiseas to the owner.” That’s enough for a claim, DCT Creeksidse I contended in its lawsuit. Rick an industrial leasing specialistat , called Data Exchange’as decision “definitely unusual” given the large blockk space involved and the 17 monthse remaining on the lease. But he worriee that Data Exchange’s move could prove a harbinger of tougheer times in a stagnant industrial markef for bigindustrial space.
“We see that (suddenj withdrawal) more with smaller tenants who do the midnight Trott said. “But that’s just a testament to the statwe of the marketright now.” Data Exchangr in February directed Columbus broker Matt Vekasyh of to begin marketing the abandonedr property as a sublease, according to a Central Ohio Commercial Information Exchange listing. That listing remainse active.
“If it gets Kheel said, “it’s certainly to everyone’s