Hawaii Kai massage spa rubbed the wrong way by fire disaster help - KITV Honolulu

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HAWAII KAI, Hawaii (Island News) -- Nearly four months after a fire broke out at a Hawaii Kai restaurant, a nearby business owner says it's still getting burned because of the blaze.

When November's fire started at Ba-Le at the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, the flames took out more than just the restaurant.

Fire and smoke also ruined parts of Serenity and Massage which is located above, leaving Sandy Stenen's business of 25 years in shambles.



Ba-Le Sandwich Shop and Serenity and Massage in Hawaii Kai is still facing the after effects of a fire from November because of a clause in the cafe’s lease.


"You're kind of thinking, Okay, well, insurance will take care of this. Their insurance will take care of this. So you just get to work on that, and then you find out, no, that's not the case,"

said Stenen.

Even though another business caused thousands of dollars in damage and forced her company to temporarily close, she can't collect from their insurance.

"There's what's called a 'hold harmless' clauses in our lease. One being that the shopping center is basically held harmless no matter what happens in the shopping center. And then they also have a hold harmless clause where each tenant is held harmless from the other tenant. This clause is not legal in a lot of states, but it is here," added Stenen.

"As a general matter, commercial leases are drafted in favor of the landlord. I mean, it's really pretty skewed in favor of the landlord," said Honolulu business attorney Andrew Stewart.

Even though Serenity & Massage has been shuttered for months, because it is not safe to have clients inside, Sandy says they are still stuck in their lease and have to pay monthly rent.

"We've lost so much for something we didn't do. At least let us out of our lease and not charge us rent. It makes no sense," stated Stenen.

As bad as that sounds, Stewart says he has seen even worse lease terms.

"Sometimes you see contracts that are 25 years old, where the commercial lease even required the tenant to pave the parking lot, maintain the landscaping, and when they broke the lease, they were responsible for paying the broker's fee to find a new tenant. I mean, just everything was on the tenant in terms of duties and obligations," added Stewart.

Restoration work at Bale restaurant just began this week.

The Hawaii Kai Shopping Center's management company did not want to comment on this case, but Stenen said she was told it would be years before her location would be able to reopen because there was structural damage to the building.

But there is a light at the end of these dark days.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help give Serenity & Massage a hand with funding and support.

And a new location has been found in Hawaii Kai with plans to reopen and restart the business in May.

Even though clients have been lost because of the fire, Stenen expects to retain most of her nearly 2 dozen employees.

So she hopes people will come back once she reopens.

"We're going to have the same people there. We're going to even extend our hours until 9pm during the week or in the weekend. And we have an elevator at this next phase. So we'd love to see you, we've missed you," added Stenen.