Downtown Greensboro nightspot Rum Runners has had some problems. With the N.C. Department of Revenue. With sticky-fingered employees. With the Guilford County Department of Health. But most of all with its landlord, big-time developer John Lomax:
Full Sail Investment’s dispute with its landlord predates Rum Runners’ opening in June 2006, reaching back to the construction phase when Andrew Shoffner and two partners in Full Sail Investments were renovating the empty shell on the first floor of the Kress Building to make it suitable for a restaurant, and work was simultaneously underway to prepare the basement for another tenant, the dance club Inferno. Shoffner said he believes developer John Lomax and architect Bruce Cantrell, who own the building together, found a more deep-pocketed tenant after Full Sail Investments had already signed the lease.
…..Alluding to his partner, Stephen Jones, Shoffner added, “It’s very confusing for Stephen, for myself, for our brothers and our parents to understand why the guy who owns the building is such a monumental pain in the ass.”
But here’s the bigger problem. If Lomax succeeds in getting rid of Rum Runners, Shoffner will be stuck with a $116,000 debt —— the remainder of a block grant loan from the City of Greensboro.
Block grant loans. Talk about a monumental pain in the ass to taxpayers.
