Taunton airport commission votes to terminate lease of Air Restaurant after repeated lease violations; public urges reprieve

The Taunton Municipal Airport Commission voted unanimously May 28 to terminate the commercial lease with Air Restaurant and Catering LLC, operated by chef-owner Charles Herman, citing repeated violations of lease terms that the commission says continued despite multiple warnings and offers of assistance.

The decision follows months of written notices from the city’s law department and repeated meetings with the restaurant operator. The commission’s letters and staff reports listed alleged failures to maintain minimum hours of public operation, to keep the premises secure and clean, to submit updated insurance and licensing information and to remit delinquent rent. Assistant City Solicitor Thomas P. Gay Jr. and airport staff told the commission the violations had not been cured within the 15-day cure period provided by the lease.

Why it matters: The restaurant opened in 2024 as part of the airport’s effort to bring year-round business and foot traffic to the airport terminal. Commission members and city staff said the restaurant’s reliability matters to pilots and visiting customers and directly affects fuel sales and broader airport operations.

Commissioners read three formal letters from the law department into the record in March and May that documented the alleged violations and demanded cure or payment. One letter to Charles Herman listed initial lease payments that the city said were not made (an initial payment of $5,000, a $2,500 security deposit and $2,500 last month’s rent) and demanded certified funds; another dated March 5 said the office-space rent was delinquent for January–March 2025, totaling $955 and placed the lease in holdover. A later May 8 letter described the parties’ discussion about an agreed mutual termination date of May 31 and asked the tenant to provide an inventory and proposed valuation of restaurant equipment for the city to consider purchasing.

City officials described a pattern of missed or late openings that, they said, caused visiting pilots and…