Landlord Seeks to Evict V.I. Daily News in Ongoing Property Dispute

The landlord of the Virgin Islands Daily News has filed a complaint in V.I. Superior Court seeking to evict the newspaper from its St. Thomas office, claiming the business hasn’t paid the rent since last May, and prior to that had arbitrarily reduced the amount it was paying.

The case appears linked to an ongoing property dispute between the Daily News Publishing Company and its president Archie Nahigian Jr., and the company he purchased the paper from in 2014.

According to the complaint, the Daily News Publishing Company entered a triple net lease agreement with the Daily News Holding Company, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 25, 2020, agreeing to pay $270,000 over the 18-month term of the contract, or $22,500 per month. When the lease expired on Aug. 1, 2021, it continued to occupy the building in Estate Thomas and to pay rent, “thus converting the Lease into a month-to-month tenancy,” it says.

Thereafter, the paper began to reduce the amount it paid, according to the complaint. “On March 1, 2022, Tenant again arbitrarily began to reduce its rental payment to Landlord but still fully occupied the Property,” it says. Then, on May 31, 2023, the paper “ceased making any rent payment at all.”