Toronto agency sues bar for $84K, years after it closed during COVID-19 pandemic
CTV
A City of Toronto agency is suing the owners of a Toronto bar for $84,000 in back rent, years after the bar was forced to shut down during the pandemic.
A City of Toronto agency is suing the owners of a Toronto bar for $84,000 in back rent, years after the bar was forced to shut down during the pandemic.
And it turns out that agency, the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA), may have gotten in the way of the bar getting certain emergency COVID-19 subsidies that could have saved the business.
“It was a very depressing time for us. We would prefer to keep it going but there was no way,” Tiz Pivetta, one of the co-owners of AAA Bar, told CTV News Toronto, recalling how when the pandemic hit, revenue collapsed leaving them with an uncertain future.
Once a thriving restaurant and music venue, AAA Bar was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health measures forced it to close in 2020, and without customers, the owners made the decision to shut it down permanently.
The property, near Broadview Avenue on Gerrard Street East, is still closed today, covered in graffiti and does not appear to have a tenant. The Bailiff’s notice addressed to AAA Bar remains posted on the door.
Another AAA Bar location survived on Adelaide Street. The owners thought the sad chapter was in the past, so it was a surprise for them to get a lawsuit from the TPA this year.
“They told us we owed them money and they were going to come after us in court,” Pivetta said.
