Tiburon Cleaners is evicted after failing to pay rent

Tiburon Cleaners, a full-service laundry and dry-cleaning business that has been a fixture in downtown Tiburon for more than 40 years, closed abruptly last week after the business was served an eviction notice for reportedly failing to pay rent.

Landlord Maggie McDonogh, who bought the 1½-story building at 1681 Tiburon Blvd. from late commercial property magnate Edward Zelinsky in 1997, said she was forced to serve the notice May 26 because business owner Francisco Martinez had fallen “way behind” in the rent for almost 14 months and had ignored repeated calls urging him to pay something so he wouldn’t fall further behind.

Martinez, a Petaluma resident reached by phone May 27, acknowledged he was more than $64,000 in arrears — though he disputed accounts that he ignored calls, saying he was the one who kept reaching out to McDonogh and that she just referred him to her attorney.

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