Patty Phillips and her attorney Kerney Kuser said she has been evicted by her landlord, Alec Gallup
By John Tredrea
Get out and stay out by June 15.
That’s what the eviction notice Patty Phillips received March 7 told her, after she and her landlord were unable to reach agreement on a new lease.
"It means I’m jobless as of June 15," she said Monday. "If that’s what happens, I don’t know where I’m going to get my July 1 mortgage payment from. I may have to sell my house."
Ms. Phillips, who is 55 and single, lives on Hart Avenue in Hopewell Borough, a few blocks from the Soupe du Jour eatery she has operated in a building off East Broad Street for 27 years. Prior to that, Soupe du Jour was at another location, also in the borough, near the Tomato Factory.
"I’ve had this business in the borough for 33 years," she said.
Ms. Phillips and her attorney Kerney Kuser said she has been evicted by her landlord, Alec Gallup. Reached by telephone at the Gallup office Monday afternoon, an associate said Alec Gallup was out of the country until Wednesday. On Wednesday, an associate, speaking for Mr. Gallup, said he would only comment on the Soupe du Jour matter in a written statement. Despite repeated phone calls to the Gallup office, the requested statement was not received before press time.
Ms. Phillips said Alec Gallup has been her landlord "for about 15 years. His parents were the landlords before that."
She said she has "no idea" what plans, if any, Mr. Gallup has for the building occupied by Soupe du Jour. "My bottom feeling is that he doesn’t like me," she said of Mr. Gallup. "I mean, he once told me: ‘Your rent doesn’t even pay the taxes on this property.’"
She said the Gallups’ refusal, for decades, to make basic repairs caused her to not sign a lease she was recently offered.
"The lease raised the rent 50 percent and required a $2,500 security deposit," she said. "Security deposit? That made no sense to me, frankly. This building is in bad shape. It needs a lot of work that I’ve been talking to Mr. Gallup about for years."
"We were negotiating on a new lease for months," Mr. Kuser said Monday. "The final thing our side said about it was that we wanted repairs done before Ms. Phillips would sign the lease. The eviction notice came two days after we said that."
Mr. Kuser said that, with the exception of two matters in which the landlord basically had no choice, "not one cent has been spent on that building in 27 years. It hasn’t been painted. The roof leaked for years and wasn’t fixed until the job was ordered by the landlord’s insurance company last year. The windows are in terrible shape. They won’t stay open. They look like they’re ready to fall out. You’re lucky if you don’t break your hand if you use a window like the ones there."
Ms. Phillips said Soupe du Jour’s hot water heater has been working terribly for many months. "She asked about 15 times that it be replaced, to no avail," Mr. Kuser said. "It finally broke altogether last week, and then it was replaced."

