Judge orders Dave & Busters out of White Flint Mall

It’s “Game Over” for Dave & Buster’s at White Flint Mall.

A federal judge has ordered the restaurant and arcade to leave its Montgomery County location within 30 days. Judge Roger W. Titus also denied Dave & Buster’s request to put the ruling on hold pending an appeal.

The Dallas-based restaurant chain sued White Flint Mall last November, alleging a planned redevelopment of the shopping center violates its lease, which prohibits renovations that would interfere with the restaurant’s operations.

White Flint Mall LLLP, in its motion to dismiss, countered Dave & Buster’s violated its lease by acquiring and rebranding Jillian’s at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, about 30 miles away. White Flint terminated the restaurant’s lease as of Dec. 31, 2012 but Dave & Buster’s has refused to leave, according to its motion to dismiss.

Titus heard arguments in the case in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on July 21. He issued his order the following day, declaring the lease between the parties “had been validly terminated and that [White Flint] is entitled to immediate possession” of the property.

Dave & Buster’s has been at White Flint since 1995. Lerner Enterprises and The Tower Cos., which own and operate White Flint Mall LLLP, plan to replace the enclosed mall with more than 5 million square feet of shops, offices, homes and even a hotel in multiple phases over the next 25 years.

Edward S. Scheidman III, Dave & Buster’s lawyer and a partner at DLA Piper US LLP in Washington, did not respond to a request for comment.

The case is Dave & Buster’s Inc. v. White Flint Mall LLLP, 8:13-cv-03390-RWT.

White Flint still faces a legal challenge to its redevelopment from Lord & Taylor LLC, one of the original tenants when the mall opened in the late 1970s. In March, a federal appellate panel ruled the redevelopment can continue while the lawsuit is pending. No trial date has been scheduled.