Asheville Pizza and Brewing, the other half of the embattled partnership that founded downtown music venue Rabbit Rabbit, filed in court its view of a deal turned sour.
“We hope that the community will consider both sides of this story and discuss it respectfully. It’s been distressing to see social media posters attacking our business, having my home address shared online and seeing people state opinions that aren’t based in fact,” says Michael Rangel, owner of Asheville Pizza and Brewing (APB). “Our business has remained strong at Asheville Brewing, and we are getting great response as we start to announce 2025 events for Asheville Yards.”
In a social media post Jan. 8, APB announced the rebranding of Rabbit Rabbit to Asheville Yards Amphitheater, which is under new management. APB’s partners in Rabbit Rabbit, The Orange Peel and Public Interest Projects (PIP) sued APB on Jan. 3, seeking an injunction to stop the latter from ending its contract to co-own and manage Rabbit Rabbit. PIP is also seeking damages and court and attorney fees. The Orange Peel alleges in the suit that APB broke its contract, misrepresented its finances and pushed The Orange Peel out of the partnership against its will. (Read more at avl.mx/ein.)
In an affidavit filed in Buncombe County Superior Court on Jan. 17, Rangel rebuts those accusations and claims that the parties agreed to allow the change of its management company and terminate its contract with The Orange Peel. Rangel asserts The Orange Peel “was unable or unwilling to produce enough shows” at the venue, refused to pay $750,000 in occupancy expenses and withheld more than $250,000 in earnings.
Rangel also alleges that The Orange Peel directed employees to engage in a public smear campaign aimed at crippling Asheville Yard’s 2025 concert season in retaliation for the decision to work with another events manager.
How they got here
Rangel states in the affidavit that APB, referred to as Ninja Brewing Inc. in the filings, and Public Interest Projects (which owns The Orange Peel) created Coxe Properties LLC in May 2019 to purchase the 1.25-acre property. The affidavit also states that PIP loaned the shared LLC $800,000 to purchase the property.
APB began leasing the property from 75 Coxe Properties in June 2019. Rangel claims that the initial lease, prepared by J. Patrick Whalen Jr., included an initial term of three years, with the ability to extend the three-year lease three times at APB’s discretion, for a total of 12 years. Beyond that, the agreement would be renewed one year at a time.
Rangel also states that APB is solely responsible for lease payments, but the agreement includes revenue sharing. According to the lease agreement submitted with the affidavit, the minimum annual rent would be 15% of annual gross revenues from the venue or $240,000, whichever is greater. Rangel notes that APB has met its obligation for rent payments since the start of the lease. If total revenue generated from the venue was less than $500,000, the parties would split expenses.
The filings allege that The Orange Peel did not reimburse expenses in 2023 or 2024. Rangel asserts that The Orange Peel owes approximately $750,000 but “has refused to pay this amount owed for unexplained reasons.”
The affidavit notes that the entities agreed to keep at least $210,000 in their shared bank account before distributing revenue to either partner. Rangel asserts that even though the total balance of their shared account exceeded that minimum by $600,000 in 2024, The Orange Peel refused to allow payouts to APB. The combined amount of the funds owed by The Orange Peel and Public Interest Projects, the affidavit says, is more than $1 million.
“We believe this was an attempt to starve Ninja’s cash flow and force us to sell Rabbit Rabbit to them at a lower price or agree to drastically change our contracts in their favor,” Rangel says in the affidavit.
Calling it quits
The affidavit also claims that The Orange Peel, whose responsibility at the shared venue was to book and produce live events, was not holding up its end of the contract by producing far fewer shows than requested by APB. “I believe [The Orange Peel] limited booking at Rabbit Rabbit so as not to compete with The Orange Peel,” Rangel wrote in the affidavit.
Rangel adds that after months of in-person mediation last summer, the two parties were unable to resolve their disagreements.
On Sept. 4, APB notified The Orange Peel that it was terminating its agreement effective Jan. 1. Rangel states that on Dec. 6, APB signed with a new management company and plans to add an ice-skating rink, special events and more concerts. The renamed venue, Asheville Yards, will now be an “open venue,” which allows Asheville Yards to be open to local promoters as well as any other promoters regionally or nationally, according to the affidavit.
“The new management company will not be constrained by the same competitive concerns that chilled OPE’s efforts to promote and book Rabbit Rabbit,” Rangel writes in the affidavit.
Public backlash
Rangel asserts that The Orange Peel filed its Jan. 3 lawsuit in retaliation to APB’s decision to work with other partners for concert production and had its employees launch a defamation campaign against APB and Asheville Yards. Dozens of social media posts decrying APB began circulating after the venue’s rebranding announcement Jan. 8. Asheville Yards Amphitheater also received dozens of one-star reviews on Google, although the venue has yet to hold an event.
“I believe the current lawsuit was initiated by plaintiffs after they received the demand letter for amounts owed to Ninja by OPE and in retaliation for Ninja entering into a new management agreement to produce live shows at what is now Asheville Yards, placing them in direct competition with The Orange Peel,” Rangel writes in the court filings. “Further, I believe OPE and J. Patrick Whalen Jr. have directed OPE and/or The Orange Peel employees to engage in a social media campaign to disparage and defame Ninja and Asheville Yards, which are designed to harm Ninja’s ability to do business in 2025 and beyond.”
In an email to Xpress, Rangel says that no employees who worked directly for APB or Asheville Yards were laid off during the switch. Any events management employees who do not also work for The Orange Peel have been invited to stay.
Both sides of the dispute expressed regret over the rancor that has arisen.
“We look forward to getting this difficult time behind us, so we can focus on creating more than 100 nights of programming a year at Asheville Yards. Our facility will be a significant driver of more business for the South Slope and for Asheville in general,” Rangel adds in his exchange with Xpress. “By becoming an ‘open’ venue in 2025, we can now invite local promoters to host more music, while having more locally flavored and family-oriented events and programming, too. A significant increase in events and programming also means more opportunities for our local, on-site staff to work more and earn more.”
The Orange Peel owner Liz Whalen Tallent wrote in an email to Xpress, “We understand and feel so much compassion for the layers of emotion that community members are feeling in these difficult posthurricane times. The recent developments have been difficult for everyone involved. [The Orange Peel] will continue to work towards a just outcome for our brand, our team — all the hardworking locals, who made our venue and reputation in the music industry what it is.”
On. Jan. 27, Judge Adam Conrad denied The Orange Peel’s request to expedite discovery.
It’s kind a of shocking that Public Interest Projects would have agreed to the terms outlined by Rangel/ APB in the first place. Then again, PIP has deviated grossly from the their original -Julian Price bankrolled- philanthropist mission when they morphed into the Whalen family business for all intents and purposes. Plenty of blame to go around here ( and plenty of cash despite both claimants claim otherwise) …and little sympathy.