Teakwoods locked out by landlord, closes

Teakwoods Tavern & Grill near Fry’s Marketplace closed yesterday. The doors were locked and a legal notice from the eatery’s landlord, Barclay Group, stated locksmiths were not permitted to change the locks.

A Barclay employee leaving the restaurant this morning said the business had not paid rent for several months. She referred further questions to the company’s office in Phoenix. A message left to the office was not immediately returned.

“We did not want to see them close,” the employee said.

Teakwoods' Facebook page said the company’s Chandler, Gilbert and Phoenix locations were “good and running,” and that the business was “shocked and disheartened to see that the landlord had locked us out today.”

The Facebook post stated Teakwoods had been trying to work out an agreement with the landlord that would keep them in Maricopa but had been misled. “In hopes to adjust with the current times and competitive neighboring rents, we had been negotiating with our landlord for quite some time. We were recently led to believe that we were close to an agreement allowing us to continue business in Maricopa. Obviously, we were misled.”

Teakwoods opened in Jan. 2008 at 21141 N. John Wayne Parkway. In 2009, the restaurant reduced 20 percent of its staff as restaurants throughout the city struggled with a slowdown in customers due to the lagging economy.