Palm Springs businesses evicted on short notice by tribal land owners

Moving to Palm Springs and opening KBC Cabinets was a new beginning for Benjamin Sullivan.

Sullivan said it came as a surprise last Friday, when he and nearly a dozen other tenants at Indian Canyon and Ramon Road were slapped with an eviction notice.

“I’m from New Orleans. I moved here after Hurricane Katrina and I’m having a Katrina moment. I’m in complete shock and I’m just going through the motions,” Sullivan said.

The business owners must vacate by May 31 or be subject to a $1,000 per day fine.

“We got a black and white paper after paying rent for five years. It was a slap in the face,” said Dimitri Halkidis, owner of Gallery 446, which just installed a new exhibit from Kenny Erwin that was supposed to be on display for a year.

“Trying to move a business in under 60 days is near impossible,” Sullivan added.

What’s more, Sullivan says he’s invested $300,000 dollars into his store space. Sullivan and other shop owners say the building has historical significance, because it was designed by famed architect Donald Wexler.

As for what happens to the money Sullivan put in?

“It all flushes down the drain,” he said. “It’s disturbing.”

“I’m kind of scared because rents are high. I don’t have backers, I’m a self-owned small business man,” Halkidis said.

The building sits on Indian land owned by members of various tribes.

We reached out to the landowners through the Bureau of Indian Affairs to learn more about plans for the land, but haven’t heard back.

Shop owners say they have an idea of what’s going to happen.

“They would tear the building down. They feel it’s dilapidated, and an eyesore. It’s not, it just needs some work. You need to put money in to keep the building together and they’re not,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan told us he even asked the tribal members if he could ground lease the lot, with the intention of rehabilitating the building, while adding a boutique hotel to the back of the lot. Sullivan said the landowners couldn’t agree on the lease.

“I have been willing to put the money in if I lease the land, but they don’t see that,” he said.

As business owners scramble during the height of season to close shop, they wonder if anything can be done to buy them more time.

“I would love it if the tribe members would just give us six months for us to find places to go so I could secure a lease and not cripple my business,” Sullivan said. “This could force me out of business and I have six employees I may have to let go.”

“I don’t want to put the blame on anyone but it could be saved, it could have potential with modernizing it,” Halkidis said. “Hopefully the community comes through and supports us in what we do and where we go.”