But with the new millennium and preparations for their 125th anniversary last March, Chapman says the Lampoon decided it was time to reclaim the bookstore’s space in the castle.
“We saw some obvious problems with the physical plan of the building that we’d overlooked,” he says.
After approaching Starr, Chapman says the Lampoon decided to give the store two years without rent plus $5,000 for moving and $5,000 to put toward opening a new location, with the lease running out this July.
“Thats about $40,000 of the Lampoon’s money. Its as much as we could do,” he says. “Our goal is to publish a magazine, not to give subsidies to an unrelated business.”
But Starr, who declined to speak to The Crimson for nearly two months about his store’s situation, remains hesistant to discuss the deal.
“We wanted to stay. The deal they gave us is that we get two years rent-free,” he says. “We still have to pay the taxes on the building.”
—Staff writer Daniela J. Lamas can be reached at lamas@fas.harvard.edu.