The city of Ironton has filed suit against the Center Street Landing and business owner Robert Johnson.

The city is seeking to take possession of the Center Street Landing property, a.k.a. the Dockside Grill restaurant, and remove Johnson and his business from it.

The city owns the premises known as the Center Street Landing, a.k.a. the Dockside Grill, and the restaurant has a lease on the property. The suit, filed in Ironton Municipal Court on April 25 alleges that Center Street Landing LTD and Johnson are in breach of the lease agreement that states the premises will go back to the city in the event that the premises are no longer used for the operation of a restaurant and boat dock facility.

The lease agreement also provides the city the right to reenter and repossess the premises which would terminate the lease, the suit alleges.

The city has served Johnson and the restaurant with a three-day notice asking them to leave the premises, the suit alleges. The notice was left at the rental premises on April 17.

Ironton City Council announced its intention to evict Johnson from the property during an April 10 meeting.

However, in a counterclaim filed June 5 in Ironton Municipal Court, Johnson denies the city's claims that he is breach of the lease agreement. Also, Johnson claims he sublet the property to Andrew M. Hall, and around the same date, offered an option to sell his interest in Center Street Landing LTD to Hall for $200,000.

The counterclaim states that Hall began occupying the leased premises and remodeling it to open a restaurant and docking facility. In March, the counterclaim alleges that Hall informally contacted Mayor Bob Cleary, informing him of the sublease and intention to purchase Johnson's interest. The counterclaim alleges that Cleary "wrongfully informed" Hall that he could not sublease the premises without city council's consent and that Hall could not purchase Johnson's interest because he "had nothing to sell."

Hall has declined to purchase the interest, and Johnson has been damaged in an amount in excess of $200,000, the counterclaim alleges. Also, the counterclaim states that the city has "established a pattern of harassing and molesting defendants in violation in terms of the lease."

Johnson is demanding that the city's suit be dismissed, compensatory damages in an amount exceeding $200,000 and punitive damages in an amount exceeding $25,000.

Johnson's attorney, Mark McCown, could not be reached before press time today. Johnson's telephone number could not be found in telephone directories.

Mayor Bob Cleary said the only information he gave Andrew Hall was how to go before council and the proper procedure for subleasing the property. The lease also explicity states that someone wanting to lease the property had to go before council. Hall did not come before council, he said.