Drip Coffee files suit against Kimco over ‘fraudulent’ business practices

Drip Coffee filed suit in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida, accusing Kimco Realty (KIM) Corporation of systemic fraudulent business practices in which the company enters into multi-year leases with tenants while simultaneously planning to evict those same tenants at a later date to make room for larger retailers. The lawsuit claims that Drip Coffee was used as a “pawn” to provide short-term rent to Kimco and its subsidiaries while they failed to disclose that they intended to begin a massive redevelopment and demolition project affecting more than 100,000 square feet of the shopping center, including the demolition of an LA Fitness and a movie theater, to accommodate a highly lucrative deal with Target. Drip Coffee alleges that Kimco committed fraud by soliciting leases they knew they could not fulfill. Drip’s lawsuit was filed after attempts to resolve the matter with Kimco failed.