The future of the Cookie Plug bakery appears cooked after owner Annette Rodriguez said she received a tersely worded letter from the City of Santa Barbara on Friday stating that she needed to leave her downtown business.

“I am writing to inform you that after much review and careful consideration we will not be offering a lease agreement to Cookie Plug SB, Inc.,” the letter from Ed France, the city’s downtown parking and plaza manager, stated.

Rodriguez, who has run Cookie Plug since February 2024, said she was stunned, since she was under the impression she had a six-year lease, signed in July 2023. France said in his letter that Rodriguez had 20 days to leave, and at that point would have a “14-day wind-down period.”

No explanation was given.

“To move in 30 days is nearly impossible,” Rodriguez told Noozhawk on Monday from her shop at 918 State St. “To take away a downtown business that just got here, for reasons that were never told, is just wrong.”

The cookie shop, known for its urban, hip-hop vibe, with graffiti art on the walls and a large painting of the late East Coast rapper The Notorious B.I.G., appears to be caught up in a mysterious quagmire of controversy, tangled with the City of Santa Barbara, the Metropolitan Theatre Corp. and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The City of Santa Barbara owns three consecutive buildings — 918 State St., 920 State St. and 916 State St., which is the new home of the Santa Barbara Film Center. Santa Barbara had a master lease agreement with the Metropolitan Theatre Corp., which had previously subleased to Cookie Plug.

However, the City of Santa Barbara opted not to renew the movie theater company’s lease last September. Metropolitan Theatre had filed for bankruptcy in March of that year.

Even though Cookie Plug had a lease through 2029 with MTC, Rodriguez said the city surmised that the sublease ended when the city declined to renew the master lease in September. Rodriguez said the city assured her, however, that they would come to terms on an agreement, but then she got the letter from France on Friday.

France, in a statement to Noozhawk, said Cookie Plug was a “holdover tenant.”

“Cookie Plug was a holdover subtenant of Metro Theatre after the lease between Metro Theatre and the city expired on Sept. 30, 2024,” France said. “Over the last six months, Cookie Plug has been operating under a signed temporary license agreement with the city to occupy the space.”

France added: “Please keep in mind, though, that we cannot offer comment on the discussions, negotiations and internal reviews done out of respect to the privacy of the licensee’s business.”

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival took over the space next to her and plans a multitude of renovations, including new seating, sound systems, a concessions stand, and heating and air conditioning. The three buildings used to be one building and share some of the same infrastructure, including water and electricity shutoffs. Before the buildings were separated, 918 State St. and 920 State St. operated as The Good Cup.

Rodriguez said she suspects that the termination of her tenancy, without any financial assistance, might have to do with making it easier for the renovations at the Film Center. However, the city has not given her any answers or specifics, other than she needs to move by the end of April.

Roger Durling, executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, said he didn’t know anything about the situation.

Rodriguez said the city approved her concept and tenancy when she originally signed the lease in 2023. She invested more than $100,000 to start up her business. The building, she said, was out of compliance when she moved.

She said the city never said in writing or otherwise that if Metropolitan Theatre left that it would void her lease.

“I never would have invested in that if I thought I wasn’t going to be here for six years,” Rodriguez said.

The art alone that covers the walls is worth $12,000, she said.

“You have taken my family savings to fix your building, and then now you want to kick us out,” Rodriguez said.

She said that when she opened the shop on State Street, she wanted to help revitalize the area and make it a fun place for people to bring their families, kids and dogs. The cookies are large, or “thicc,” and include s’mores, sugar, chocolate chip, chocolate caramel and red velvet.

Rodriguez, who is also a nurse, went to Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara City College, and later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Los Angeles. Her mother is Jo Ann Caines, a former principal at La Cumbre Junior High School who died in 2018. Her brother is Doug Caines, a football coach and teacher at Dos Pueblos High School.

“To remove me at any point in time because they feel like it just seems backwards,” Rodriguez said.

She took her situation to social media on Monday, stunning her company’s followers.

“Trust me … all the dishonesty from the city will be posted. Story told … if you know me, I’m not one to lay down and get run over,” she wrote.

She said she doesn’t understand how the city can kick her out and not offer her any financial compensation, after she signed a lease. It feels like a business “renoviction,” she said, but without any tenant displacement assistance.

As she pointed out vacant storefronts all over the 900 blocks, Rodriguez told Noozhawk on Monday that she wanted to be part of downtown’s solution. She said she doesn’t understand why, when the city is struggling to keep businesses alive, that it would kick out a successful tenant.

“I wanted to be downtown because I used to come here as a kid,” she said. “It is heartbreaking. It hurts my family.”