The owners of a swanky rooftop bar have been locked out of the building for a third time in two years.
Martin Phipps and his wife, Julisa, who own Paramour at the Phipps and its restaurant Colette, were locked out of the property at 102 Ninth St. on Friday morning.
Notices on the bar’s doors stated that the owners were delinquent on rent and that the locks had been changed.
In July, the bar announced it’s preparing to pause operations at the location, while it plans “the next evolution of this iconic San Antonio night spot,” according to a social media post. It has yet to reveal its final day of service, and an attorney for the landlord, CDC Enterprises LP, said the bar owners have not shared a timeframe for the move.
The landlord “has illegally locked us out three times,” Julisa Phipps said in a statement.
The Phipps and CDC have been entangled in a long-simmering legal battle.
Phipps lost a jury trial last year in a lawsuit brought by building owner CDC Enterprises LP. The jury directed Phipps to pay more than $1.2 million in damages and attorneys’ fees to CDC.
The dispute escalated again in March this year when CDC once more locked out Paramour and Phipps’ law firm, this time over alleged unpaid rent and common-area maintenance charges.
On March 18, a judge ruled the lockout was unlawful because the landlord failed to provide proper notice, though she noted CDC could still pursue eviction through other legal avenues, saying there were “other remedies to get them out.”
“This is now the second time a court has rejected a lockout involving the parties, including the June 2024 lockout, because the lease was not followed, proper notice was not given, and the charges relied on were not supported,” Roger Legrand, a spokesman for Phipps, said in a text at the time.
In July, CDC filed an eviction action against Holy Spirits LLC, which does business as Paramour. A jury trial is set for Oct. 9.
The 30,000-square-foot building, which Martin Phipps built in 2014, was originally known as the Phipps but has since been renamed the Paradigm, according to a sign marketing the space for lease out front.
Rhyma Castillo contributed to this report.
