TENANTS OF Norman Centre Mall are not bullying Norman Finance Development Limited out of its building; all they want is to be given more time to find new locations for their businesses, says spokesperson for Norman Centre Tenants Association, Dacosta Brathwaite.
On November 29, the 26 tenants were issued with a letter from the mall’s management advising them that they must vacate their space by January 31, 2011 because of an “urgent need to significantly upgrade the Norman Centre including the electrical and air-conditioning services”.
Brathwaite, who is managing director of D’s Mega Style Inc., said that last week the tenants sent a letter to the director of the mall, Stephen Edghill, requesting that he reconsider the 60-day notice for them to vacate. He noted that Edghill has not yet replied to them but the tenants were prepared to seek a court injunction to stop their removal at the end of next month.
The spokesman said that after seeking legal advice yesterday, the tenants were giving the mall’s director more time to reply to them, before they headed to the law courts.
“I think it is unconstitutional because we are a commercial entity, and by law, we have to get 90 days’ notice prior to move. On the third floor, a multimillion dollar office is being built with the same fire hazards. So it can’t be a fire hazard, and I believe that whatever electrical problems the building has can be fixed with the tenants in it. You are asking 130 employees of Norman Centre to go home,” he said.
Brathwaite added: “In yesterday’s paper [Daily Nation], Mr Edghill claimed that he spoke to us. He has never spoken to us. And what we want to know is that if it is the case that we have to move and the building is so hazardous, why is there a restaurant still operating and we have received reports that that restaurant has not received any notice about having to move by January 31?”
He stressed that not only would employees be jobless, but also 26 businesses would be affected. (AH)