Sarcoa Future

Sarcoa, a restaurant on Hamilton’s waterfront has been forced to close after failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent and there’s a lot of uncertainty about future events scheduled there.

Yesterday morning Hamilton Waterfront Trust posted a notice of termination on the doors of Sarcoa saying they’ve racked up $226 000 in unpaid rent among other breaches. But today staff were busy setting up for a wedding tonight and the photographer said it’s going ahead as planned.

“The currently scheduled events are continuing without any interruption right now.” Konstantine Ketsetzis, Sarcoa’s lawyer.

But many want to know for how long. “I tried to email my contact here with no answer, I also tried several times to phone with no answers.”

In a statement the Hamilton Waterfront Trust said it’s operating on an interim basis.

The other breaches include failing to be open consistent hours and days and operating a banquet hall on more than an occasional basis.

Sarcoa’s lawyer says his clients are denying all the allegations and says they’ve been in a legal battle with the trust and city since 2015 for preventing it from throwing patio parties with loud music.

In May the owners of Sarcoa said they were shifting their focus to special events to stay afloat. They rebranded to “Jem at Sarcoa event centre” and a new general manager was brought on. But that meant the patio would only be open to the general public on weekends if events weren’t booked.

Their lawyer says the owners have put a lot of money into this business and are anxious and plan to fight this. We contacted Hamilton Waterfront Trust but they did not respond to our questions.