Japanese restaurant construction stirs up controversy
Published on Mon., July 2nd, 2007
If Jeremy Claeys gets his way, Wa Japanese Restaurant won’t be moving to its new location anytime soon.
Claeys, 29, is trying to stop the restaurant from expanding because he says that the construction of the new restaurant is doing irrevocable damage to the historic building in which he lives at 742 1/2 Massachusetts St.
“They basically smashed into my house and didn’t give a damn,” Claeys said.
The owners of Wa purchased the lower level of the building in February in hopes of opening their new location by January 2008. The owners began construction on the new location in March, but were ordered by the city to stop three days later when Claeys alerted officials that damage was being done to his home.
In protest to construction near his home at 742 1/2 Massachusetts St., Jeremy Claeys, Lawrence resident, has put up a sign to encourage people to boycott the Wa restaurant.
Photo by Jon Goering
“The insurance people told me that there was upwards of $20,000 in damage done,” Claeys said.
Claeys, who lives on the upper level of the building, is trying to stop the restaurant’s construction by claiming that the owners have purchased only the interior and have no right to alter the outside of the building.
Jun Kim, one of Wa’s owners, said that the construction is having no effect on the exterior of the building and that Claeys is fighting a battle that he can’t win.
“He has been left with no legal options,” Kim said.
Kim said that the people at Wa have nothing personal against Claeys, and he said though that Claeys shares the same feeling.
“I think he’d be putting up the same fight if it was any other tenant,” Kim said.
Kim said he was hoping to get a permit from the city sometime in the next two weeks that would allow construction to continue. Claeys said that if Wa gets its permit, he will have no choice but to sue the city.
“I can’t let something like this go on, especially from one of my neighbors,” Claeys said.
On Thursday, Claeys put signs up in his windows in the upper level of the building that read “BOYCOTT WA” and asked customers to visit his Web site at www.boycottwa.com. The site lists alternative sushi restaurants in the area and provides a link to a form that visitors can fill out to receive free anti-Wa T-shirts and flyers.
“The purpose of the boycott is to give the people at Wa an economic incentive to stop doing what they’re doing,” Claeys said.
Kim said that he was actually happy Claeys decided to put the signs up and started the Web site. The restaurant even has a new item on its menu, the “Boycott Wa Roll.”
Lawrence resident Shelley Ford said that Claeys protest wouldn’t stop her from visiting what she said was the best sushi restaurant in the area.
“How they’re building the new site and who it’s angering doesn’t make the food taste any differently,” Ford said.
— Edited by Ben Smith
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