James Symond claims Matt Moran and Bruce Solomon owe him rent over failed Chophouse Parramatta

Landlord James Symond is battling pub mogul Bruce Solomon and celebrity chef Matt Moran for what he claims is unpaid rent from the failed Chophouse Parramatta.

Commercial property landlord James Symond has so far failed in his bid to extract what he claims is unpaid rent from the partners behind the failed Chophouse Parramatta venture, Bruce Solomon and Matt Moran.

The newly retired former chief executive of Aussie Home Loans, is, according to mediation documents filed with the NSW Small Business Commission last year, owed money after companies backed by pub mogul Solomon and celebrity chef Moran pulled the pin on Chophouse Parramatta in December 2019, just 14 months into an eight-year lease.

Matt Moran and Bruce Solomon. Picture: Steven Woodburn

Mr Symond’s former tenants on Friday night said they had tried to arrange new tenants for the property but they had been knocked back by their landlord.

After spending months in dispute with Chophouse Parramatta — a New York-style steakhouse affiliated with the CBD restaurant of the same name that did not resonate with Parramatta diners — the parties entered into mediation negotiations in October last year.

According to documents sighted by this column, Symond was seeking to have two companies attached to Solomon and Moran’s Solotel Group, Liner House Sol Pty Ltd and Mash Parramatta Pty Ltd, “renegotiate in good faith the rent payable under — and other terms of — the lease in accordance with Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulations (NSW)”.

James Symond is in a dispute with Moran and Solomon. Picture: Supplied

Alternatively, Symond asked that the parties “agree to pay the outstanding rent and operating expenses immediately and that they will continue to observe the terms of the lease and agree to recommence trading of their business from the premises within a reasonable period”.

The Chophouse partnership signed an eight-year contract on the property — with an option to renew for another five years — on July 1, 2018. Rent on the property was in the order of $27,000 per month, rising to $29,000 in 2020 — or $297,000 per annum, plus an estimated $50,000 per annum in outgoings to cover land tax, water, electricity, gas and compliances.

Chophouse’s lease on the property, at 83 Macquarie St, wasn’t due to expire until June 30, 2026.

On Friday, Symond, who also owns restaurant venues from Sydney to the Gold Coast and is a silent backer of cool Greenwich bar Caffé Dante, said he had knocked back an approach from the Rockpool Group to go with the Solotel Group directors in 2018.

He said it was a decision he now regretted as it had left him in the dispute over the rental shortfall.

The Chophouse at Parramatta in 2019.

After mediation negotiations on October 2 did not resolve the dispute, Symond engaged legal firm Addisons to recoup the income he claims to have lost.

With the parties deadlocked, Symond then terminated his lease with Solomon and Moran’s companies in December 2020.

Sources for Symond last week claimed around the same time the landlord discovered fittings at the restaurant had been removed.

But Solotel Group director Elliot Solomon last night denied any items belonging to the landlord had been removed from the property.

A statutory demand for outstanding rent and outgoings of some $308,000 was issued on Symond’s behalf on March 17, 2021.

The co-directors of Solotel Group, which presides over 25 thriving venues, responded with an offer of $80,000, a sum rejected by Symond who demanded $600,000 to release the Chophouse tenants from any future liability.

Elliot Solomon last night confirmed the “Chophouse Parramatta Partnership, the company that leases the former Chophouse Parramatta site, has been put into voluntary liquidation”.

He added that in early 2020, after the closure of the restaurant, the landlord had been advised through the agent that the tenants were quitting the site.

Alternative tenants were proposed for the venue, Solomon said.

“However they were rejected by the landlord. Since then, we have been in discussions with the landlord, including throughout last year,” he said.

“While the liquidation is disappointing, it is a result of not being able to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with the landlord regarding a proposed alternate tenant or settlement.”

Bruce Solomon, who said he had recently been battling ill health, on Friday dismissed the matter as a simple “landlord and tenant dispute”.

“At the end of the day, it’s a very disappointing process when you make a contract with two high-profile professionals who don’t fulfil their obligations,” Symond said.