Harcourt developments were accused of “bullying” when the wheels came off the Sullivan Square development in Las Vegas, a little $800m sideline of theirs where they had a 60% interest , that was a year back .
Anyway Harcourt decided to raise some cash closer to home, in Letterkenny .
They hiked the rents in a quarter empty shopping centre by 50% and locked out some store leaseholders who did not pay. Harcourt also own Galway Shopping Centre and are behind Parkwest and the Titanic Quarter in Belfast .
The tenant in Letterkenny that they “locked out” owns another shopping center in Letterkenny, it would be interesting to know has he himself put up the rent in his shopping center since 2004, seen for harcourt it was a 5 year rent review. Not standing up for Harcourt, but this guy is getting a lot of sympathy around here and the media are useless at finding any balance in stories.
Were would rents be now in relation to 2004 prices?
Not defending what they done, 40% increase is just stupid in current climate (more so in a town so close to the border). All i’m saying is this tenant is crying poor mouth to the press and i wonder what his own tenants think.
I thought he simply owned his own shop “up the town”, rather than another shopping centre?
He was on Newstalk yesterday morning stating that other shopping centres in the own (ie: the new retail park) have dropped their rents by 40% - which is true.
Didn’t hear the interview, but thats a different tenant. The tenant i was referring to owns another shopping center in Letterkenny, shops in Galway and a few others.
As of today only 1 tenant has been locked out, Alfie Green of Greens Shoes. Proctors is under notice that they will be locked out on Friday.
My understanding is that most of the tenants are withholding rent but that Alfie Green was locked out as an example as he was deemed to be the ring leader of the grouping of tenants who got REI (Retail Excellance Ireland) involved in order to negotiate collectively.
Can’t see it working though. Commercial landlords are on a lose-lose bet. Push too hard and their tenants will leave/go out of business. Don’t push enough and they are the ones in trouble.
