A popular Woodbine Beach restaurant is set to close later this month in the latest in a long-running saga that has seen conflicts between the city, residents, controversial leaseholder George Foulidis and restaurant giant Cara.

Less than two years after it opened, Carters Landing, one of over half a dozen Landing restaurants in the GTA, will shut its doors May 24.

The Cara-owned restaurant told CBC Toronto it's saddened it will leave the Beach but refused to explain why they were moving.

The restaurant has been embroiled in controversy that even predates its 2016 opening.

That year, the city tried to stop Foulidis and his company Tuggs from subletting space to Carters Landing's parent company, Cara.

But the controversy stretches back even further — over a decade.

In 2007, council struck a 20-year lease extension with Foulidis, choosing to ignore a city staff recommendation to put the lease up for tender.

Council had hoped to keep businesses along a popular stretch Woodbine Beach in neighbourhood hands, and keep chain restaurants from taking over. But both the city and Foulidis drew criticism, when he chose to sublet the space to Cara, instead.

Controversy over lease deal

The deal was also the subject of a $6-million libel suit by Foulidis against Rob Ford, when in 2010, the then-mayoral candidate told the Toronto Sun the deal "stinks to high heaven" and "smacks of civic corruption."

Foulidis claimed Ford's comments hurt his reputation and his business as well as embarrassed his wife and family.

The city tried to stop Foulidis and Tuggs from subletting space to Carters Landing's parent company, Cara. (Paul Borkwood/CBC) However, a judge dismissed the lawsuit in December 2012 , ruling that Foulidis did not prove the comments were directed at him or that they were defamatory.

He appealed the ruling, but the decision was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2014.

Local resident Chris Yaccato opposed the lease deal from the beginning, but he says now is another opportunity to speak up against it.

"When this closes, if this closes, we may face nothing down here for the summer," he told CBC Toronto. "We don't know who's going to come in right away. It takes time to build and renovate and change."

Local resident Chris Yaccato says the space lost its appeal when Carters Landing opened there. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)

Yaccato says the restaurant, which opened after a locally owned eatery closed its doors, lost its appeal when it became Carters Landing.

"When that came in, what's the point? It's just a corporate brand, and I want something more local," he said. "I know a lot of people in this area and who come down want to support local businesses, family-run businesses, but it's a blind corporation. There's no face to it."

City monitoring situation

Foulidis has rights to the city-approved lease until 2028 and did not respond to CBC Toronto for comment.

But still, there are worries about what comes next for the site. Coun. Mary-Margaret McMahon says the city is keeping a close watch.

"It still belongs to Tuggs Inc., but they have to operate a restaurant, and we damn well will make sure they do," she said of the lease.

For residents like Jennifer Buonito, news that Carters Landing is closing isn't welcome.

"It's kind of nice to have a restaurant on the beach, somewhere to go that has food for everybody," she said. "[I] know someone who had a wedding there, and they said it was beautiful and the food was good."