The popular Kitchen Restaurant is staying in its anchor location in an aging plaza near downtown West Palm Beach after winning a lawsuit that validated its lease through 2028.
Chef Matthew Byrne and his wife, Aliza Byrne, who opened the restaurant at 319 Belvedere Road in 2013, filed the lawsuit against the influential Frisbie Group in 2024 for breaking their rental contract as the company attempted to redevelop the nearly 90-year-old plaza.
Kitchen stayed open during the legal wranglings and got a final judgment in its favor on Sept. 15. But most of the tenants have left, including an Edward Jones Financial Advisor and the celebrated restaurants Sushi Jo and Jo Bistro, which relocated to a bigger location on South Dixie Highway.
“We are pleased that the judge followed the law and recognized our credibility,” the Byrnes said in a prepared statement about the legal win. “We are happy that Kitchen Restaurant will remain for four years and that this lawsuit is now behind us.”
Attorneys for The Frisbie Group did not respond to a request for comment. Messages left for The Frisbie Group were not returned.
The decision against The Frisbie Group leaves the future of the plaza and the acre of prime real estate at Belvedere Road and Dixie Highway in question. Frisbie withdrew its plans to redevelop the site after the historic El Cid community had concerns about the project’s size and design.
A potential buyer for the plaza submitted plans to the city this year for an eight-story mixed-use development with 32 residences and 4,131 square feet of nonresidential space.
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Casey Klein, a resident of El Cid and managing partner with the real estate investment firm Third Frontier Capital, is listed in city documents as the applicant for the new development. Emails sent to Klein and Third Frontier Capital were not returned.
A survey of El Cid residents by the El Cid Historic Neighborhood Association showed they are again bristling at the density and eight-story height of the plan.
A May response from city planners included requests for improvements such as better integration between the project and street frontages, more direct access to commercial businesses, a better parking plan and landscaping changes. There was also a concern about the “exclusive use” of a proposed rooftop park.
“The intent of a planned development is to encourage innovative planning and development techniques, but also to create a more desirable and attractive development that benefits not just the project, but the surrounding community and general public,” city planners wrote.
Another plan was submitted in late July and El Cid residents said they are awaiting city comments.
For now, some community members and businesses are OK with the status quo.
“Kitchen is a valued part of the El Cid community, and we hope they remain a tenant through any future redevelopment of the plaza,” Mackey Reed, an El Cid Historic Neighborhood Association co-president, said about the results of the lawsuit.
The Coldwell Banker office of the Tom Davis Group is one of the few tenants at 319 Belvedere Road who stayed during the lawsuit.
Rendering of proposed mixed-use development for 319 Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach. The image is a depiction of looking west from Belvedere Road and Dixie Highway. The lot currently houses a nearly 90-year-old plaza that includes the popular Kitchen restaurant.
Jeremy Lu, a partner with the Tom Davis Group, said the plaza is in a key location, basically midway between the north end and south ends of West Palm Beach, and on one of the gateway roads into downtown.
“It’s nice to know we might have an opportunity to stay a little bit longer,” Lu said.
Kitchen’s complaint against The Frisbie Group said it had an option to renew its lease for five years, which it did in a December 2022 letter.
Subsequent correspondence discussed setting a new rental rate, according to the complaint. The Byrnes got a bill for $10,832 for monthly rent, which they paid.
But then they received a letter from an attorney representing The Frisbie Group that said the lease had expired Dec. 31, 2023, without the two sides agreeing to a new rental price. Kitchen, the letter said, was occupying the space without a lease agreement.
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“I think they definitely just want us out of there,” said Matthew Byrne in March 2024 shortly after filing the lawsuit.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Joseph Curley said in his 17-page ruling that certain actions, including the landlord’s acceptance of rental payments from Kitchen, and the restaurant’s correspondence that it was renewing its lease without any disagreements from the landlord, mean the lease is valid. Kitchen is also seeking $7,144 from The Frisbie Group in recoverable court costs.
The Byrnes have a second Kitchen Restaurant at Alton Town Center in Palm Beach Gardens. The couple also opened Mr. B’s Tavern in December 2024 in the industrial section of Georgia Avenue in West Palm Beach. The classy dive bar with an Old Florida vibe features signature cocktails and is something the couple said they had always wanted to open.
But they have sentimental ties to the original Kitchen location on Belvedere, which they opened before the neighborhood was booming with design shops, luxury apartments and gourmet grocers.
The private Biba Social club is also expected to open this winter in the former historic Hotel Biba across the street from Kitchen.
“We are just happy to be here for the next four years and are looking forward to a busy season,” the Byrnes said in the statement.
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Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm restaurant owned by Tiger Woods former chef wins suit to stay
