through of the building, so (Sanchez) lets them in and she, our landlord, runs into my brother, and she says in a very sweet way, because we have a really good relationship, ‘Why didn’t you want to buy the building?’ And that’s when Eric’s jaw dropped,” Ildemaro says. “He’s like, ‘But you decided not to sell to us. We wanted to. Rosie has all the text messages.’ And that’s when her jaw drops, too, and she’s like, ‘No, no, no, this is what I was told.’”
After talking with Martinez and realizing there had been miscommunication, Sanchez felt more comfortable with pursuing legal action, and they proceeded to get a lawyer.
But they didn’t start the lawsuit — that would be the Heidaris’ doing. In their October 2023 original petition, Sanchez and Ildemaro said the Heidaris were still pushing for the sale of the property, despite the terms of Strangeways’ lease. They accused Martinez of breach of contract and fraud.
Before Martinez answered the Heidaris’ petition with a blanket denial, Sanchez and Ildemaro intervened in the lawsuit against the Heidaris and their landlord. Their petition claimed that they weren’t notified of the sale until after it had happened via a text message from Martinez’s broker, who they said misrepresented the situation to Martinez, who was willing to comply with the lease.
“We always knew that we had a right of first refusal,” Ildemaro says. “My landlord always knew that we wanted to buy the building. Her realtor lied to our landlord and said they’re not interested and pushed my landlord to sell to (the buyers).”
The broker declined to discuss the lawsuit with the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate over the phone. We reached out to Martinez’s lawyer but didn’t hear back.
A long legal fight, what Ildemaro calls an “expensively sad situation,” ensued that resulted in upwards of 60 documents filed.