Playing the fiddle while the city burns

The recent and very public dispute involving the management of Port Lucaya Marketplace (Bourbon Street Limited) and LDV Limited, owned by Rick Hayward, is but another blight on the face of Grand Bahama.

The dispute appears to be regarding the late payment of rent for three restaurant spaces at Port Lucaya Marketplace, the waterside shopping centre that has become the de facto hub of retail commerce and entertainment in Freeport.

The three restaurants, La Dolce Vita, EAST, and The Pub at Port Lucaya (in the space formerly occupied by ‘Pussers’), are operated by Mr Hayward (son of Sir Jack Hayward), who has asserted that he has been a tenant for 22 years and has paid out more than $3.5 million in rent during that time.

According to court documents and legal papers filed, and subsequently reviewed by this writer, the landlord charges that Mr Hayward has failed to pay rent for those locations for the past ten months, and is in arrears just shy of $230,000.

Last week, the staff of the these businesses arrived to commence work to discover the doors locked and a noticed posted to advise that the landlord had exercised its right to control access due to the overdue sum and that it could further repossess the goods to recover any losses or expenses.

As a result, at least 75 Grand Bahama residents are out of work; while Mr Hayward has promised to continue to pay the workers while the problem is addressed, at the very least the future employment of these workers—and the livelihood of their families—are in jeopardy.

On the surface, it seems that a landlord is rightfully taking action to recover fees owed by a tenant that has fallen behind in a major way, especially given the amounts involved. No landlord can sustain its operation if it must carry such heavy losses over a long period of time; it just doesn’t make good business sense to do so.

For Mr Hayward’s part, today’s economy makes it difficult to continue to pay salaries, insurance, rent and license fees, purchase goods and supplies, and attend to all the other expenses that go along with operating a restaurant business—or three. To do so in a way that ensures that workers are paid regularly and staff levels are kept steady while bearing the constant weight of such costs can be difficult, if not impossible, as business volume steadily wanes.

Mr Hayward contends that his rental fees have more than doubled in the last five years, and he has challenged these increases that he claims have been unjustified and unsustainable.

One of Mr Hayward’s primary objections to the lockout action is that he believes these steps are motivated by the running feud between the owners and management of Port Group Limited, which has involved Sir Jack Hayward, the St George Estate and chairman Hannes Babak. While the ownership dispute and disagreement over management rights remains outstanding, Rick Hayward seems to believe that last week’s clash over his rental debt is driven more by the Port Group Limited than Bourbon Street/Port Lucaya Marketplace.

Such a belief is based on the fact that Port Group Limited’s management issued a letter of demand for the rental payments to Hayward’s company back in Aril 2009—yet Port Group Limited is not the landlord to which Hayward owes the outstanding amounts.

This week, Hayward’s legal counsel stated that the demand from this “third party” was ignored as it was not involved in the matter, which then lead Port Group Limited to respond by locking the doors of the rented space.

Mr Hayward has acknowledged his debt and acquiesced to Bourbon Street’s right to seek relief through the courts to recovered the sums owed. What Mr Hayward has rejected is the involvement of Port Group Limited, as he believes that there are other unrelated motivations spurring such aggressive steps.

While the true motivations and intentions of all the parties would be nigh impossible to decipher, what is clear to most outsiders is that such discord and conflict is nothing more than a gaping wound. This is just another symptom of a cancer that has been slowly disintegrating the integrity and sustainability of Freeport and Grand Bahama.

While the entire Bahamas faces the facts of a globally faltering economy, the evaporation of discretionary spending, and the threats of increasing regional competition (helllloooo, Cuba), Grand Bahama struggles to find its own footing as the very investors, regulators and managers that are charged with its stewardship continue to bicker.

That is not to say that there aren’t real and important matters to be settled, but we have heard from all corners—licensees, gas station attendants and expatriate visitors alike—that it just needs to be done.

The parties should fully appreciate that the lingering dispute is negatively affecting the lives and collective future of the residents of Grand Bahama, and ultimately, the Bahamas. The personal agendas, egos and lack of effective communication are hampering potential investments and stagnating Grand Bahama.

Stop muddying the waters when there are fish to be caught. Stop playing the fiddle while our city burns. And stop holding our futures in limbo while we wonder where our next paycheck is coming from.

~ejr~

NOTE:
Late Thursday evening, July 2, 2009, a statement was issued by Port Group Limited stating that an agreement has been reached between the parties regarding the rental dispute. Click HERE to read that statement.