So it may come as a surprise that Golden Oak will be leaving Saratoga this week.

The bottom floor of 14414 Oak St., at the edge of the Village, serves as both the offices for Design Focus Landscape Architects, the business Rebecca Dye has run with partner Hank Helbush for 20 years, and the Golden Oak Gallery. The building belongs to the charitable organization the Oddfellows, who use the top floor of the building to hold their regular meetings.

Dye said she was overjoyed to strike a deal with the Oddfellows to rent the bottom floor of the building in July 2003. The building was spacious and in a great location. Her landlords were accommodating and kind, in keeping with the reputation of their organization.

Dye says the two parties negotiated a monthly rent and a five-year lease, guaranteeing her use of the space through August 2008. Dye says they even discussed extending the lease to eight years.

Dye says she and Ed Brown, treasurer of the Oddfellows, filled in the blanks on a five-year lease agreement, and she signed it. Dye gave the Saratoga News a copy of this agreement. She says Brown then told her he planned to take it back to his offices and type it up, sign it, and bring it back to Dye to sign again and keep a copy of.

Dye never got her copy.

Over the next few months, Design Focus moved in and Golden Oak had its grand opening in November. The businesses thrived.

Over time, Dye says she spent tens of thousands of dollars on renovations. She and her staff painted the space inside and out, installed new specialty doors and cabinetry, rewired the building for computers and put in new lighting.

Dye says the Oddfellows would stop by from time to time to see the work she was doing, praising the renovations and reiterating how happy they were that she was there. She says they encouraged her to continue with improvements.

Dye says she inquired many times as to why she hadn't been given her copy of the lease agreement yet. She says every time she asked, Brown apologized, said he had forgotten and promised to get it to her as soon as possible.

Golden Oak proved to be popular with the community; its customer base continued to grow. Dye and her staff began plans for a series of art classes to begin in 2006.

Then the Oddfellows came downstairs in November. Dye, Golden Oak and Design Focus were asked to move out as the Oddfellows wanted use the bottom floor of the building to house their main offices.

Dye said she was confused, as according to the lease agreement, she was supposed to have several years in the building.

"I said, 'you can't do this,' " Dye says.

The Oddfellows' reply was there was no lease agreement. Dye says she was told the lease had never been typed up; therefore, it was not legally binding. Dye says Brown acts as if he has no recollection of their agreement--as though it never happened.

Dye says she can't believe the Oddfellows are reneging on their agreement.

"It's pretty shocking, what's happened," she says.

Dye says she was asked to leave within a couple of months. When Dye got upset, she says Brown and the organization apologized profusely for any confusion and gave her more time--until March--to vacate. Dye says, however, she will move as soon as possible, even though an attorney she consulted says she would have an excellent case if she took legal action against the Oddfellows.

"He said we would probably win in court, but that it would be a long, drawn-out battle, maybe two to three years, and I don't want to go through that," Dye says. "I don't want to send anger out into the community. I think of myself as a community person."

Therefore, Golden Oak Gallery will close its doors this week.

Asked to comment, Brown said that, from the beginning, when Dye and her businesses moved in, there were "some negotiation problems," and, over time, when those issues weren't resolved, the lease agreement was never signed and Dye was put on a month-to-month rental basis. Brown would not comment on what those issues were.

Dye says she is appalled that Brown would say such a thing, and that she was never told she had been put on a month-to-month basis.

"There were no disagreements about money or anything," she says. "They were completely positive about everything we've done in here. They're not telling the truth. That's what's more upsetting to me than the fact we have to move--the way we're being treated. The Oddfellows are supposed to be this do-gooder organization. I think they're basically good people, but they're not telling the truth."

Dye says, under those circumstances, she would rather move. Design Focus has already made arrangements to move over the hill into the Santa Cruz area. She says she will have to figure out how to reopen the Golden Oak Gallery at a later time, although she will most likely try to host some art events over the summer.

In the meantime, Dye wants reimbursement from the Oddfellows for the tens of thousands of dollars in renovations.

"We would never have moved in here if we'd known it would only be for two years. It's just not economical," she says, listing the high costs of moving and sustaining a gallery and then having to shut it down.

Dye says loyal customers of the Golden Oak Gallery should keep an eye out for communications through their mailing list.