School avoids eviction

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — The owner of Scholars Armenian School and Arts Center on Monday said she was confident that a bankruptcy trial would not affect the campus after she made good on a $123,000 payment to avoid eviction.

She owed the money for unpaid rent since declaring bankruptcy in May after failing to make other rent payments.

Still, Scholars Principal and owner Anahit Grigoryan has continued to refuse paying nearly $200,000 in rent after funding a cleanup of toxic mold and asbestos, which should have been the responsibility of landlord Alex Kuiumdjian, she said.

Kuiumdjian’s attorney, Frank Rubin, argues that Grigoryan made expensive property changes without first asking the landlord, who would have done it on his own, making her responsible for the rent.

Rubin added that Grigoryan didn’t bring up the mold until she was already in debt, a charge she denies.

“It was all after rent was due,” Rubin said.

Grigoryan has filed a separate lawsuit to resolve the issue, alleging that Kuiumdjian had rented the property after falsely claiming it was free of hazardous materials, specifically mold, according to the lease agreement and court documents.

She was confident that the school would continue uninterrupted, regardless of the court proceedings.

“I’m not a lawyer, but I do know the law,” said Grigoryan, a former professor at UCLA and universities in Russia and Armenia.

She had already invested more than $500,000 into the property at 1021 Grandview Ave. before discovering the mold while venturing into the basement, making a move from the site unreasonable, she said.

Grigoryan has insisted that Kuiumdjian gave her license to “do whatever you want” while making facility improvements.

Additionally, the potential of mold in the basement, she said, could have presented a danger to her students, whom she did not notify of the problem because the school was closed when it was discovered and cleared.

When Grigoryan proceeded to contract the cleanup work herself, workers discovered asbestos and embarked on a sweeping effort to remove the dangerous matter before students returned.

The cleanup added to her makeover of the building, which cost more than $1.5 million, she said.

Rubin argued that the basement was not within the parameters of Grigoryan’s lease and that she should not have moved into the area and made changes without permission.