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Gregorys Coffee in Stanford Shopping Center is fighting the property managers’ eviction efforts, arguing in new court documents that the unpaid rent was due more than a year ago and that the shopping center prevented the cafe from fulfilling its duties, as outlined in the lease.
The East Coast-based coffee chain first opened in Palo Alto in April 2025, nearly a year after the opening date specified in the lease agreement. The mall’s property manager, SPG Center, LLC, first sued the cafe in January, alleging a nonpayment of rent and other costs that totaled $350,000 as of November 2025.
The cafe’s attorneys denied the claims in the January lawsuit earlier this year. In May, SPG Center delivered a notice to pay rent or quit, which stated that Gregorys owed $73,000 at the time.
SPG Center escalated to filing an unlawful detainer in June with the Santa Clara County Superior Court in an effort to evict Gregorys from the premises, citing the alleged unpaid rent and other construction costs. SPG Center is also requesting that the court demand Gregorys pay the outstanding amount and reasonable attorney fees, plus damages at a rate of $734.53 per day that Gregorys remains on the premises since June 1.
As of publication date, the damages requested by SPG Center exceed $67,000.
On Aug. 28, Gregorys attorney Eric Rans filed an answer to the unlawful detainer that denies a bulk of the allegations and states that several other allegations are false. It also invokes the defense that SPG Center wrongfully prevented Gregorys from upholding its side of the lease agreement.
Among the allegations that Rans wrote are false include the total amount due for unpaid rent, around $73,000; the specifics of the lease agreement; and the statement that Gregorys maintains possession of the premises.
According to the unlawful detainer answer, another defense Rans invokes is that the mall’s “demand for possession is based on nonpayment of rent due more than one year ago.” Additionally, Gregorys believes that the fair rental value alleged in the complaint is “excessive.”
“There are additional agreements between the parties that affect, modify or change the terms of the lease herein,” the answer states.
Neither Rans or Gregorys was immediately available to comment on the new court filing, which also asks that SPG Center cover reasonable attorneys fees.
According to earlier court documents, SPG Center signed a six-year lease with a subsidiary of Gregorys called Stanford Shopping Center Coffee and Bakery, LLC, in 2024. Gregorys is listed as a guarantor of the lease, and both parties are named as defendants in the lawsuit and unlawful detainer.
The coffee shop opened in the Stanford Shopping Center in April last year in what was once a Starbucks location. At the time, it was the second Gregorys location in California, with the majority of the chain located in the northeast part of the country. Its branding focuses on “seeing coffee differently,” according to previous reporting by this publication.
The company was founded in Manhattan in 2006 by Gregory Zamfotis and has around 50 locations nationwide.
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