An employee of The Wrap prepares the eatery’s namesake meal. Its lease has been shortened by HSA.

The Wrap’s 15-year lease on its Mt. Auburn Street location has been terminated and replaced with a shorter lease that expires in October of 2003.

Harvard Student Agencies (HSA), which owns the Mt. Auburn Street building, utilized a provision in the original lease to terminate the contract, set to expire in 2011, and replace it with a new two-year lease.

Officials from HSA refuse to comment on whether The Wrap will be granted a new lease in 2003 to stay at its current location.

“Seven years versus 15 years, that can be frustrating,” said John Pepper, CEO of the Stellar Restaurant Group—the legal name of corporation that runs The Wrap.

The restaurant’s original 15-year lease was purchased in 1997 from the previous tenant, Wrap Culture. The lease, which spanned from 1996 to 2011 was subdivided into three terms of five years, the first of which ended in October 2001. The lease was not renewed for a second five-year term.

“[Not getting a new lease in 2003] would be one of the biggest stumbling blocks we’ve come to” said Adam Liebman, one of the Wrap’s co-founders and its vice president of real estate.

Both Liebman and Pepper explained that the Harvard Square location is the most successful of The Wrap’s seven locations. All seven stores are located in the Boston area.

“It’s the number one store, and its ahead of number two by far,” said Pepper.

Both HSA President Bradley J. Olson ’03 and HSA General Manager Robert Rombauer called The Wrap an “excellent tenant.”

“We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with them in the future,” Olson said.

He refused, however, to comment on why HSA only granted a two-year lease to The Wrap. Additionally, he would not say whether HSA—including its Let’s Go division that already occupies the space above the store—was seeking additional space.

“I would restate that all agreements and negotiations between HSA and its lessees are confidential,” Olson said.

Both Olson and Rombauer have the authority necessarily to make a lease contract. All major contracts are brought before the entire HSA Board of Directors—composed of students, alumni and University officials—or one of its sub-committees.

Seeking a New Location

As of now, the Wrap will have to leave by October 2003 unless between now and then an extension or a new lease is granted.