"He went into it knowing that he'd have to convince me to keep a restaurant," Niles says. "I feel for the guy, but he just didn't convince me."

"I just didn't want cooking on the premises any more," Niles continues.

Lee says he feels misled, however.

His business decisions for the past four years, he says, have been based on an inaccurate assumption.

But Niles says Lee was ignoring the obvious.

"I told him we might not extend the lease, but he didn't want to hear it," Niles says. "He just stuck his head in the sand."

Financially, it might be in Niles' best interest to keep Grafton Street as a tenant, but he says it's just not worth the continued inconvenience of having a restaurant below an office space.

"I could probably have made more money with them here," he says. "But some things are more important than money."

Instead, Grafton Street's upcoming move will result in the expansion of the neighboring Cambridgeport Bank.

The bank will take over half of the space Bob Slate's currently occupies, and Niles has offered the stationary store the opportunity to expand into the current Grafton site.

Ulterior Motive?

But Lee questions the rationale behind Niles' decision not to extend the lease.

He says he doubts Niles's decision was simply based on a desire for a food-free tenant--and he blames his bar's tenuous situation on the bank's decision to expand.

"We find it very curious that a small bank that claims to be a bank for the little guy is kicking out a small business," Lee says.

But Cambridgeport Bank President and CEO James B. Keegan '63 says he only became interested in the space after Grafton Street's lease had expired.

"Nothing ever happened along the lines of the bank scheming to get rid of the little guy," Keegan says. "That's just silly. The space became available, and we were pleased with the opportunity to expand."