Peabody Developers Say Pub Owner Backed Out Of Deal: Lawsuit

PEABODY, MA -- The father-son development team remaking a key component in Peabody's downtown revitalization effort is suing the owner of Brodie's Pub. In their lawsuit in Salem Superior Court, Pasquale "Pat" Todisco and his son, Steven, claim Brodie's owner Michael Votto did not pay rent and backed out of a deal after signing a long-term deal to be an anchor tenant in their remake of the O'Shea Building at 1 Main Street.

Before the deal fell apart in May, city officials had said moving Brodie's into the building would move revitalization efforts forward. In addition to Brodie's, the remake of the building included additional first-floor retail space and 20 apartments on the upper floors.

According to court documents, Votto paid $23,000 when the 10-year lease was signed in January, but then told the Todiscos he would not be moving into the space about a week before May 1, the date on which he was supposed to start paying $7,000 in monthly rent.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to place a lien of up to $103,000 on the sale of a home Votto is building in Beverly to cover the rent for the 18 months the Todiscos estimate it will take them to find a replacement tenant. A hearing on the injunction request is scheduled for Thursday.

The Todiscos purchased the building, which had long been considered an eyesore in downtown Peabody, in July 2017. The Todiscos previously said their plans call for investing $4 million into the O'Shea building.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).