FAIRFIELD – The Circle Diner recently ended a two-decade run after the owner settled with the owner of the 441 Post Road property situated next to the Circle Hotel, the site of a proposed mixed-use apartment and hotel.
A front-door handwritten sign with the word “Closed” and a dark interior is all that customers can see from the outside. Court records tell the story of a battle between the landlord 441 Post Road LLC of Norwalk and the diner owner Fastt LLC dba Circle Diner that was operated by Gus Tsilfedes since the early 2000s.
On Feb. 26, Bridgeport Superior Court Judge John Regan signed off on the settlement between both parties where the property owner would get possession of the diner by March 3 and the more than $81,000 in rent and town tax and sewer fees owed by Fastt LLC would be forgiven. Fastt LLC would still have to pay its own attorney fees, the court record shows.
Only a year ago 441 Post Road LLC gave Tsilfedes until March 25, 2025, to vacate the premises. The landlord alleges that Fastt LLC missed its $18,000 rent payment, failed to pay property and sewer taxes, and failed to pay for snow removal.
However, Fastt LLC, which is represented by attorney Stephen Walko of Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara LLC of Greenwich, claimed in its answer to the eviction notice that the landlord refused to accept payment for all charges. It also claims that it “has operated the family restaurant at the Premises for over 20 years at a significant investment and has paid or attempted to pay all sums due and owing to Landlord despite its own hardships.”
Then on April 24, 2025, the landlord sued Fastt LLC seeking compensation for the rent and back taxes and fees. The landlord cited a lease signed by both parties on March 30, 2003, that was due to last until March 31, 2030. In 2014, the parties entered into a lease amendment that extended the lease until March 31, 2035.
In an answer to the April 24 complaint by 441 Post Road LLC, the diner’s owners admit missing March’s rent, not paying the real estate and sewer taxes on time and not paying for the snow removal. But they challenged such actions being reasons to be evicted, according to the lease.
Therefore, Fastt LLC claims the loss the diner would suffer in being dispossessed from the location would be “inequitable and disproportionate” to any injury to the landlord.
At the same time as eviction proceeding is making its way through court, 441 Post Road LLC and its developer Spinnaker Real Estate are trying to move forward with redeveloping the Circle Hotel into a mixed-use, 250-unit apartment complex that may include affordable housing and a 110-room hotel.
Two versions of the development, including one under the Section 8-30g of the state statute for affordable housing, have been approved by the town Plan and Zoning Commission.
However, six neighbors filed an appeal in Bridgeport Superior Court to stop the project. They have been trying to work out their differences in mediation but that has yet to bear any fruit.
