By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
THE Government is paying up to $90 per square foot for rental space, a Cabinet Minister said yesterday, describing the 87 percent reduction offered to the Post Office as "unprecedented".
Brensil Rolle, minister of public service, seeking to justify the selection of the Town Centre Mall as the Post Office's new home, told Parliament yesterday: "I have a list of rents and leases we pay now in the public service ranging from $90 per square foot.
"That is what happens in the public service today. It doesn't matter whether you are white or black, it doesn't matter what the situation is. The Government needs the space, and the space is negotiated at a reasonable rate and we go forward. Twelve dollars per square foot [at Town Centre Mall] is unprecedented."
The Minnis administration previously announced it had acquired the former Phil's Food Services building on Gladstone Road to house the General Post Office, but it was ultimately forced back to the drawing board on those plans because Cabinet discovered it would cost more to renovate the building than it had budgeted, having been stripped of electrical wiring, plumbing and air conditioning components.
The Christie administration had also looked at relocating the General Post Office to the Town Centre Mall during its last term, but ultimately decided to enter into a public-private partnership (PPP) to construct a new building at the Independence Drive Shopping Centre across the roundabout. The project was halted after public outcry from Garden Hills residents, who claimed the location would have negatively impacted their quality of life.
Businessman Scott Godet, who agreed that PPP, this week told Tribune Business he has been left exposed to a near-$4m loss, having had to endure an 18-month wait for the Government to clarify how it intends to proceed with the deal.
Mr Godet said the Minnis administration has yet to respond to the four options he presented it with on September 4, adding that he had been "unable to do anything with my property" during that period for fear he would breach the PPP's terms.
Besides sinking $3m into constructing a facility the Government has now seemingly abandoned, the Bahamian businessman said he had also lost about $800,000 in rental income up to end-August 2018 as a result of evicting other tenants to make way for the Post Office.
The Town Centre Mall, at 203,000 square feet, was once listed for sale at a cost of $16m. It is part owned by Minister of Immigration, Trade & Industry and Financial Services, Brent Symonette.
Comments
Dawes 5 years, 6 months ago
So what he is saying is we are getting shafted by most leases and this one is the only reasonable one. Surely he should tell the people who entered into this $90 a square foot lease and with who? But we a joke country so that won't happen. No doubt it is to some connected person, either FNM or PLP.
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 6 months ago
Why do these people sit up in the house and call us fools? Nobody wants to be in the town center mall. If you'd asked they may have let you in there for free.
And notice not once in this discussion have then presented a breakdown of the comparative costs between using the different buildings. What's the cost to replace the wiring and use the phils building? What's the cost to use the city market building on market street? All they've presented is this ridiculous statistic about rent being as much as 90 per sq foot.
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