Residents living above Joplin restaurant-bar are being evicted - KOAM TV 7

Residents living above Joplin restaurant-bar are being evicted

A Joplin restaurant-bar is changing names but in the process renters in the lofts above it are getting evicted.

Mike Denny owns Quincy Magoo's on Kentucky and he is now renovating the restaurant to reopen as Bricktown Sliders on May 5.  He leases the building and says one of the person living above the restaurant hasn't been paying rent while another was arrested on a marijuana violation.

"I want a fresh start for Bricktown Sliders," Denny says.

Denny plans to clean and re-rent the apartments.

Tabatha Thurston says she's one of four tenants in the studio apartments above the now closed Quincy Magoo's.  Last Thursday she and others were given a notice saying because of a change in ownership they need to be out in 10 days and to take their belongings with them.

Thurston says she and her boyfriend paid $400 a month, including utilities.  She thinks the 10 day notice is too short to find a new place and Legal Aid officials agree.

"Since the tornado it's really horrible because there's a lot of people that don't have places to live and now, you know, we're displaced too and we've got nowhere to go," says Thurston.

"You're going to have to have a court order to physically remove them, but the proper way is to give them 30 days written notice," says Janice Franklin, Legal Aid managing attorney.  "If somebody doesn't get out after the 30 days then you file an action in the associate court asking the court to give you possession and if they owe you rent you ask the court to award you rent."

Franklin says it is critical for all renters to document payments, including cash payments.

Denny, the owner, says if there are tenants who need more time to find a new place he will grant it, they just need to give him a call.

We want to note that Denny was involved in starting the Quincy Magoo's at Stones Corner but has sold that restaurant and is no longer affiliated with it.