The landlord of Boston's famous Faneuil Hall Marketplace alleges that it is owed unpaid rent from current and former tenants at the marketplace.
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Most of the complaints against tenants have been filed this year, except for the complaints against Ghirardelli and Lovepop, which were filed in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
J. Safra told Bisnow the company doesn't comment on litigation. However, the company shared its improvement plan for the property and tenant commitments that bring its ground-floor retail occupancy to 93%, up from 76% in 2024.
The two largest lawsuits, filed last month against Sugar Factory and FoMu, make up more than half of the unpaid rent total.
Sugar Factory owes J. Safra more than $930K, including unpaid rent, interest and attorney's fees, according to the landlord's July 10 lawsuit. Sugar Factory entered into a lease agreement with the former landlord, New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., in 2021 to occupy roughly 9K SF at the property's South Market Building.
J. Safra claims that it notified the Sugar Factory franchise's owner, Lloyd Sugarman, in January 2026 about unpaid rent totaling roughly $913K and said that failure to pay the full amount in 10 days following its initial notice would classify as a default. The landlord alleged that the candy company failed and refused to pay within that time period.
FoMu signed a lease agreement for 289 SF in Faneuil Hall's Quincy Market building in June 2022 with Ashkenazy. The ice cream company vacated the property in March 2026, which J. Safra alleged was a breach of the lease, according to its July 9 lawsuit.
Similar to Sugar Factory, J. Safra sent a notice to FoMu about its failure to pay more than $119K in rent. The company said failure to pay within five days of the notice would result in default. FoMu allegedly didn't respond to the notice, resulting in default.
In March, J. Safra terminated its lease with FoMu, and it says the present outstanding amount owed is more than $326K in rent. J. Safra is seeking $447K, including overdue rent, interest, late fees and attorney's fees, according to the lawsuit.
FoMu founder Deena Jalal told Bisnow in an email that the business didn't owe back rent and the amount allegedly owed is based on future rent that would have been paid had J. Safra not terminated its lease.
"As a mom, woman and small business owner in Boston for the last 18 years, I’ve always run my business with integrity and respect for our partners and community," she said in a statement. "It’s really sad to see a large New York based international company come in and take advantage of the vulnerability of so many small minority owned businesses in Boston."
The other five lawsuits are against Imagine Exhibitions Inc., Boston Halal, Popular Properties Realty Inc., Lovepop and Ghirardelli Chocolate Co. The court filings show that J. Safra is asking those companies for just under $1M.
J. Safra acquired the ground lease for the property in 2024 from Ashkenazy for an undisclosed amount.
The property faced issues under the prior landlord.
In 2020, Boston officials threatened to remove Ashkenazy as landlord over failure to stay up to date on its payment in lieu of taxes agreement. A year later, the landlord was sued for more than $2.5M that merchants claimed they were owed from the company, The Boston Globe reported.
The future of Faneuil Hall has been a highly debated topic as the historic marketplace has fallen on hard times over the past decade. From longtime tenants vacating to the dwindling foot traffic, many agree that something needs to be done to update the area's image.
In March, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu brought together architects, city planners and community members for a two-day workshop to discuss ideas as to how the marketplace could be reimagined for the next 50 years, CBS News reported.
Now, J. Safra is executing a multiphased improvement plan on the property in partnership with the Commodore Builders, a spokesperson told Bisnow. The first phase of the project completed this summer, addressing deferred maintenance by previous ownership.
The property is also expected to bring on new tenants, including Tree House Brewing Co., Smashed by BRED, The Maharaja, Azul Mexican Kitchen and Mona Sweets.
