Tyrei Lacy, the owner of The District by GS restaurant on Crenshaw Boulevard is accusing his landlord, Fred Leeds Properties, of evicting him from the location he’s occupied for the last seven years. He believes it is a breach of contract and is disputing the eviction in court.
Lacy said he’s being evicted without cause and had been sued for nearly $800,000 of alleged back rent and fees, which could have forced him to permanently close the restaurant.
Fred Leeds Properties sent a delinquency notice on November 11, 2024, according to a document Lacy shared with The LA Local. Lacy also provided a court document confirming that the lawsuit against him for back fees and rent was dismissed on May 8, 2026, however he continues to fight the eviction.
The LA Local reached out to Fred Leeds Properties for comment Wednesday and did not receive a response.
On June 17, Lacy held a press conference just outside of the restaurant to raise awareness about the ongoing commercial lease dispute with Fred Leeds Properties. He was surrounded by community leaders and supporters.
“Is this an eviction tactic? This is a tactic to take our businesses back?” Lacy said during the press conference. “Because the conversation was, ‘Come in, I’ll give you everything you want,’ when I walked in the door. Five years later, ‘I don’t care what you say. I want it back.’”
During the conference, Lacy repeatedly prompted the crowd to chant, “I stand with The District!” He’s also launched a website chronicling his dispute with the landlord.
Most small businesses in LA rent their spaces, according to Karen Ramirez, a program manager with Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). During the press conference, Ramirez emphasized that small businesses often operate without legal safety nets. So, in 2024, SAJE formed the Small Business Alliance to support commercial tenants who have faced harassment and exaggerated rent increases from their landlords, Ramirez said.
The District by GS opened in 2019 in the heart of the Crenshaw District, according to its campaign website. In a Facebook video, Lacy said he spent $750,000 to renovate the space, signed a 20-year lease with Leeds and has always paid rent on time.
In a statement, LA City Council member Heather Hutt, who represents District 10 where the restaurant is located, said the City Council is developing an ordinance to build on existing tenant protections to include vulnerable commercial tenants.
The Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance will “protect small, independent, and minority-owned legacy businesses from predatory displacement, intimidation, and landlord overreach,” the statement said.
“We cannot and will not stand by and let land bankers and the bad landlords use harassment tactics and put mom and pops that support our community out of business,” Hakeem Parke-Davis, a representative from District 10, said during the press conference.
Danny Bakewell Sr., owner of The LA Sentinel, was also on hand to support Lacy at the press conference, calling him a good person and business owner that the community needs to rally behind.
“He has put up hard earned money to open up this place,” Bakewell Sr. said. “This place looked nothing like this when he took it over, which is what he is fighting for.”
Lacy isn’t the only restaurateur alleging they were pushed out
Al Lewis, who also spoke during the press conference, said he too had been forced out of the space he leased with Fred Leeds Properties. Lewis said he once owned the Ameci Pizza restaurant, which was located in Crenshaw Square near The District.
He tearfully explained that he started the business in 2020 during the pandemic, signed a lease with Fred Leeds Properties and invested $450,000 for the buildout of the restaurant. It took two years to complete.
“All of sudden, he started to say he wanted me out. I didn’t understand why after I built the place like that,” Lewis said. “Basically, we went to court. He told me he was going to get a judgement against me and sue me for the rest of the 20-year lease and put my family on the street.”
Lewis said he always paid the rent so he went to court in 2024 to dispute his eviction. He said because Leeds wanted him out of the space, the court ruled that he must vacate the pizza restaurant but would not be required to pay the remainder of the lease agreement.
He also told The LA Local that he’d taken out a $150,000 loan to support the business against the equity in the home he’s owned for 26 years. Now the house is being sold because he lost his source of income from the restaurant.
Lewis said he’s speaking out now because he believes the landlord is attempting to do the same thing to Lacy.
“So, now you see why my fight is serious. The fight just gets deeper,” Lacy said during the press conference. “I’m going to fight this with every bone in my body.”
