ASHEVILLE — On Tuesday morning, workers moved furniture from Champa, a restaurant serving sushi in downtown Asheville for nearly a decade.

A sign on the door said Asheville's Champa is closed, though a Hendersonville Champa location remains open at 437 N. Main St.

The move came after a dispute over who had the right to occupy the Biltmore Avenue property.

Steve and Nan Klein, owners of The Wine and Oyster, signed a lease for the space at 3 Biltmore Ave. last year, expecting to take possession Dec. 21.

The Champa owners, who signed a month-to-month lease last year in lieu of accepting a rent increase, had hoped to continue running their restaurant in Asheville.

But Pack Square Investors LLC, the group that owns the building, filed a complaint to eject the sushi restaurant from the property.

The investment group declined to comment on exact details of the lease when asked for comment, as did a Champa co-owner, but the issue went to court in February.

Champa eventually agreed to vacate by March 15.

More:Dining review: The Wine & Oyster

"We're excited that everything has been potentially resolved, and we look forward to being a part of the downtown restaurant scene," Steve Klein said earlier this month.

Klein hoped for a "quick turnaround" on the property after missing both Valentine's Day and, now, the Southern Conference Tournament.

"We don't want to delay and lose too much time," he said. "We'll do what we need to do to get going."

The Kleins first opened their restaurant as a franchise location of the New York-based Virgola Wine Bar at 2 Hendersonville Road in Biltmore Station in 2017.

They ditched the franchise the following year, becoming The Wine & Oyster in February 2018.

In the new downtown space, the Kleins plan to have craft cocktails, 50 wines by the glass and more in the bottle. They'll of course serve oysters, but also a full lunch and dinner menu.

More here.