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| Sara and Khalid Mekki in their restaurant with three of their four children. |
Khalid and Sara Mekki, the owners of
Bawadi Mediterranean Grill & Sweets Café in Bailey’s Crossroads, say they’re being treated unfairly by their landlord, Adrian Dominguez, and her company, Alta Enterprises 1 LLC, who is forcing them out and refusing to renew their lease.
A petition circulated by the Mekki’s and signed by 700 customers and friends, says they have been asking Dominguez to renew their lease for a year to no avail and say she has never given them a reason for denying their request or explained why she wants Bawadi out.
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| A sign in front of Bawadi. |
Bawadi, at 5916 Leesburg Pike, offers halal Middle Eastern food made with fresh, natural ingredients, homemade baklawa, and a lunch buffet.
When the Mekki’s opened their restaurant four years ago, they signed a four-year lease, which has now expired. On Feb. 8, Dominguez’s attorney sent the Mekki’s a letter stating they had to leave the shopping center by March 31.
Bawadi is still open, and Khalid says he is hoping to negotiate with Alta Enterprises to stay at least until they can find another location. He even said he would pay a year’s rent in advance but Dominguez’ attorney declined that offer without giving a reason.
If the restaurant closes, 10 employees will lose their jobs, Khalid says. And the Mekki’s would lose the $370,000 they put into the restaurant, including an $85,000 bread oven.
The Mekki’s never missed a rent payment, Khalid says, although in the beginning, before the restaurant started turning a profit, their payments were a little late, but that didn’t seem to be a problem.
When their business partner backed out, Khalid quit his job as an engineer at AstraZeneca, they sold their house, he drained his 401(k), and they sold land they owned in Jordan to keep the restaurant going.
“Slowly things worked out,” he says, and Bawadi, which means “oasis” in Arabic, is now doing very well. “Forcing us out doesn’t make any sense.”
Dominguez’ attorney did not respond to a request to comment.
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| Khalid Badawi with some of the bread made in-house. |
The air conditioning was broken all summer last year, and the temperature rose to 101 degrees in the kitchen during Ramadan, Khalid says. When the landlord refused to fix it, the Mekki’s brought in seven portable AC units on their own.
If they lose their right to stay in the shopping center, Khalid would like to reopen in a new location, but isn’t sure he will be able to, noting it would take a year to get the necessary permits.
Khalid says Dominguez even started advertising the place in January, weeks before she told the Mekki’s they had to leave.
“She never appreciated what we did,” says Sara Mekki. “She won’t even give us a month to find a new place. She enjoys seeing people suffer.”
“The minute I hired a lawyer, she turned into a monster,” Khalid added. She won’t answer emails or return phone calls.
Greg Friedman, the Mekki’s attorney, said they should at least be allowed to stay on a month-to-month basis until they can find a new location.
Dominguez told the Mekki’s they could stay until the end of April if they paid her attorney’s fees for the past few months, which amounts to $8,000, Friedman says. That is not acceptable, he says; they shouldn’t be charged for any of her legal fees incurred before March 31.
“This is a guy who is an immigrant who bought a business and expected the landlord was going to give him more time and would be able to justify his investment,” Friedman says. “The business is doing well. He works hard and has a community following and repeat customers. Now he is in a situation where he is being forced out.”
“Small businesses like Bawadi Mediterranean Grill are part of the backbone of this neighborhood,” Sara Mekki says. “We established this family restaurant to not only support us and our employees’ families but also to contribute to our community by helping local food drives and events.”
