La Pizza in Healdsburg Says Lease Is Uncertain

We’ve got an update on those freaky rumors swirling about the possible closure of the old-school La Pizza restaurant across from McDonald’s at the south end of town. A reporter from the Press Democrat got a hold of both the restaurant’s owner, Chhouk “Lilly” Lach, and her landlords. Long story short, the landlords say they’re changing La Pizza’s yearly lease to a month-to-month thing, and she fears that means she’ll be pushed out. So nothing official yet, but she seems very spooked. From the PD story: “After owning La Pizza restaurant in Healdsburg for over a decade, Chhouk Lach says she may have to shutter the business after her long-term lease expires at the end of March. North Bay Property Advisors in Santa Rosa, which leases Lach the space at 133 Healdsburg Ave., informed her that it will be listing the Healdsburg Avenue site for lease on April 1. Lach says she has not been given the option to renew the lease and as a result, her rental status will change to month-to-month once her current lease agreement ends. ‘This is my life. I don’t have a lot of money,’ the 46-year-old Santa Rosa resident said. ‘I can’t even afford to live in Healdsburg.’ … However, according to North Bay Property Advisors, Lach’s belief that she is being pushed out is incorrect. A company official contends her fears are the result of a misunderstanding. ‘That’s false information. That’s 100% incorrect. No tenant has been given notice to vacate the property, period,’ said William M. Severi, who heads the company.” You can read the full story here, which paints the La Pizza debacle as just “the latest in a continuing spate, in recent years, of financial challenges that have threatened the livelihoods of small businesses in the increasingly tony downtown of Healdsburg.” (Source: Press Democrat; paywall)