Whether a lawsuit brought by a now-shuttered St. Louis restaurant over lead contamination will go to a jury trial is now in the hands of a judge.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Joseph Patrick Whyte heard arguments Monday on a motion to dismiss the suit brought by the co-owners of Brew Tulum against Delmar Maker District associates.
The coffee roastery and Mexican restaurant closed in the commercial district in 2023. Owners Laura McNamara and Alberto Juarez alleged then that the space was contaminated with lead after an improper build-out.
The husband and wife first sued the space’s landlord, Park Property Management, and owner, Bridge Delmar, and Doug Auer in January 2024. Park Property Management owns Third Degree Glass Factory. The Delmar Maker District is co-owned by Auer of Third Degree Glass Factory and Jim McKelvey, a co-founder of Square.
Teresa Dale Pupillo of Capes Sokol represented the defendants. She argued that the amended suit brought by the Brew Tulum owners on behalf of the business, themselves and their son failed to make viable claims of statutory negligence, negligence, breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation.
“Some claims are borderline frivolous,” she said.
But one thing is not disputed: the presence of lead. Pupillo played down its importance, stating that there is lead “everywhere in St. Louis” and adding that the substance “could just blow in” later.
The suit’s conflict stretches back to 2023, when Brew Tulum closed its doors. McNamara said at the time that a routine test of her son’s blood showed high lead levels and subsequent testing of her and Juarez’s blood revealed even higher levels.
She alleged that the space had been turned over to Brew Tulum full of dust left over from construction and said the restaurant was tested several times in September by Ian St. John of St. John Environmental Consulting, a St. Louis company that surveys buildings for lead, asbestos and mold.
Documents from the environmental consultant show concentrations higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s tolerance levels — for example, the company found four times the dust-lead hazard standard on the kitchen floor.
The landlord had the space cleaned, but McNamara said at the time that the contracted company, Touch of Class, was not certified for lead abatement. The lawsuit states that cleaning occurred on Sept. 21, and documents show that six of nine tests performed by St. John Environmental Consulting on Sept. 26 found lead.
A spokesperson for the landlord later disputed the findings, writing that a separate “Missouri Licensed lead risk assessor” found no hazards and suggested that the restaurant’s traditional pottery was the source of the lead — something the Brew Tulum owners disputed then and Lawder said Monday was tested and “didn’t really show any significant lead contamination.”
According to the suit, the parties could not come to an agreement on whether or how the space should be remediated, though it eventually was after the EPA ordered a cleanup.
On Monday, Pupillo called this allegation “erroneous” and stated the federal agency had done no such thing.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Lawder, pointed out the space had undergone remediation and not “out of the goodness of their heart.”
“They did the proper repair because they were ultimately forced to either by the fact that they did have a duty or the various governmental entities made them do that,” he stated.
St. Louis restaurateur Ben Poremba opened Florentin in the space that once held Brew Tulum in the Delmar Maker District in June. A photo provided to a reporter in March 2024 shows the space with the Florentin sign already installed and the windows covered in brown paper. On the door is a work area sign reading “Lead Hazard Area” and a warning not to enter without a respirator and protective clothing.
Speaking after the hearing Monday, Lawder said that he expects the suit will survive the motion to dismiss, but if it doesn’t, he expects to file an amended petition.
“I think the court's going to deny the motion, and we're going to move on and hopefully get my clients the relief that they should be entitled to,” he said. “Had [the defendants] simply done the proper remediation that they eventually did do, we wouldn't be here.”
The case is scheduled to go in front of a jury on March 17.
Pupillo declined to give additional comment immediately.
Brew Tulum was slated to reopen in Laclede’s Landing last year but, in October, announced on Instagram that delays in the project scuttled that plan.
“We found ourselves strained to the point of near fracture,” the post reads, noting that the brand was also pulling out as the coffee provider for Cobblestone STL, a market in the same neighborhood.
Correction: The lead hazard photo is from 2024 and documents show an environmental consultant found four times the lead dust hazard on the kitchen floor.
