

Chris Fox and Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





A judge has ruled the owner of a popular deli can re-enter and re-open his restaurant following the abrupt termination of his lease.

Zane Caplansky of Caplansky’s deli said that a judge found that his lease of 356 College Street is “clearly still valid” despite the actions of his landlord earlier this week.

The locks on Zane Caplanky’s College Street deli were changed Monday around midnight and a notice was posted advising him that his lease was terminated immediately because he failed to “effect repairs not authorized by the landlord.”

Caplansky told CP24 it was a “great relief” that the five day-long lockout was over.

“We’ve got an incredible group of people here whose jobs were in jeopardy, we’ve got customers who have been calling wanting to get back into the restaurant, it’s nice to be able to serve people again.”

He said that the judge granted him an adjournment, and that costs will be settled at a later date.

The locks put on the doors of the restaurant were cut on Friday afternoon and Caplansky said the restaurant will open for customers at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

He said that he has three years left on his lease and intends to stay at least until then.

“I’ll conduct myself as a professional, I’ll be polite, I will continue to pay my rent on time and I will do what I have to do as a tenant, and hopefully the landlord will conduct himself accordingly.”

Caplansky’s also has one location in Yorkville and two locations at Pearson International Airport, all of which remained open this week.

While he was locked out, Caplansky parked his food truck outside of the College Street location and served customers from the street.