Drip Espresso Founder Taylor Schear. Press launch photograph.

The proprietor of Drip Espresso, a single impartial espresso store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has accused industrial actual property large Kimco Realty of fraudulently inducing the enterprise to signal a lease at a shopping mall slated for main redevelopment.

The lawsuit, filed in Broward County Circuit Courtroom by Drip Espresso working firm Sheer Hospitality, LLC, names Kimco and Cypress Creek Associates Restricted Partnership, the Kimco-affiliated possession entity for the Cypress Creek Station buying heart close to I-95.

After a buildout, Drip Espresso opened its inaugural location contained in the buying heart in September 2025, in keeping with quite a few native experiences. The espresso store has since closed. 

In a public announcement this week, the proprietor accused Kimco of utilizing Drip Espresso as a “pawn” to offer short-term hire whereas the property house owners deliberate a redevelopment challenge affecting greater than 100,000 sq. ft of the buying heart to make manner for a Goal retailer.

“Drip Espresso alleges that Kimco dedicated fraud by soliciting leases they knew they may not fulfill,” a press launch from Drip Espresso, based by entrepreneur Taylor Schear, stated. 

Alleging the owner started main development and demolition work shortly after Drip Espresso opened, the swimsuit seeks $9 million in damages, in keeping with a report from The Actual Deal. 

DCN reached out to Kimco Realty, a New York Inventory Trade-listed firm headquartered in Jericho, New York, for touch upon the allegations however has not but heard again. A spokesperson for the corporate advised The Actual Deal that Kimco disagreed with “the characterization of occasions and allegations.”

Public planning data reviewed by DCN present that the Kimco affiliate often known as Cypress Creek Associates LP submitted a website plan for the proposed Goal at Cypress Creek Station on Nov. 11, 2024, following a preliminary planning assembly on Oct. 25, 2024.

A Jan. 16, 2026, Instagram put up from Drip Espresso asserting its closure stated the corporate signed its lease in 2024. The Actual Deal reported that Drip Espresso’s lease commenced in March 2025. DCN was not in a position to verify when the Fort Lauderdale metropolis planning data had been made publicly accessible.

On the time of this writing, a Kimco Realty webpage devoted to the buying heart outlined a redevelopment plan to “demolish the vast majority of the buying heart and develop a Tremendous Goal in addition to present important enhancements to the steadiness of the buying heart.”

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