The owner of Dearman’s and the restaurant’s longtime landlord in the Bocage Village Shopping Center have reached an agreement on a new lease, ending three months of uncertainty over the future of the beloved diner.
Dearman’s has been shut down since early March, when a late-night fire damaged the restaurant and also caused smoke and water damage to other suites in the shopping center. One week after the blaze, shopping center management notified Dearman’s owner David Van Gelder that his lease had been terminated, prompting an outcry on social media from loyal patrons of the neighborhood diner.
In the weeks that would follow, talks resumed between Van Gelder and the shopping center, which is owned by Hill Properties and managed by Mitch Richardson. But as recently as mid-May, Richardson said he was entertaining proposals from several potential restaurant tenants, including Dearman’s.
