HDC commercial tenants: Poor management affecting revenue

A customer makes a purchase from Cappadonna's Ice Cream at the Pleasantville Village Plaza Complex in Pleasantville, January 5. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

Tenants of Pleasantville Village Plaza believe management of the commercial facilities should be tightened and streamlined, as Housing Development Corporation (HDC) chairman Feeroz Khan questioned the financial viability of the properties.

Opened on November 7, 2006, the Pleasantville Village Plaza is one of seven such commercial properties run by the HDC near its housing developments. It houses about 50 units ranging from 225 to 500 square feet, with rent starting at around $1,300 monthly, and a 175-seat amphitheatre that can be booked for around $2,500.

Khan, at a UNC media conference on January 4, lamented that the property, along with the Edinburgh 500 Village Plaza, Cashew Gardens Village Plaza, Couva Village Plaza, Maloney Village Plaza, La Horquetta Village Plaza and the Bon Air Village Plaza, were only raking in about $1 million annually while accruing a maintenance bill of $10 million.

“Make that make sense," Khan said.

The Pleasantville plaza could bring in at least $780,000 annually if the estimated 50 units were all occupied and paid the $1,300 rent. However, at least a dozen of the units were unoccupied during Newsday's visit on January 5.

Tenants believe the plaza could be economically viable once it is properly managed.

Cappadonna's Ice Cream was among the first stores to open at the plaza. Its owner, Collin Douglas, who described himself as the chief cook and bottle washer, said the facility is not as thriving as it once was when doors opened 20 years ago.

"These plazas haven't been taken care of in terms of marketing, structuring in terms of bringing in different clients. Look we have a lot of booths here that's unoccupied for the past ten years. People coming and they asking for booths but the red-tape is a little too much to get people to occupy. They want to know all your business, your grandmother's business. They want to know too much and they not giving out the booths to people."

One of the newer additions to the plaza is Abalaye Spiritual and Cultural Shop. Its owner, Dale Haynes, shared similar sentiments. He recalled a recent experience where the plaza's management records showed a large unit occupied and only realised it was vacant for months after he requested to move to it. Additionally, he said they often have to wait a few months to receive a receipt once rent is paid.

"We would pay our rent through our business account and not until sometimes two months, three months after we now receiving a receipt. When I was asking them for a removal, they were saying we didn't pay rent ...and it's when I show them, 'Look we paid it,' and then they realise. So these are the issues. They need to check their internal things."

Other tenants who spoke with Newsday off-record also expressed disappointment in the plaza's infrastructural upkeep, saying pigeons and stray dogs were now the main occupants.

Despite these issues, Haynes believes the plaza has a good market, describing the foot traffic as good and the surrounding community as friendly.

Born, raised and living in Pleasantville for the last 50 years, Roxanne Cruickshank said the plaza is a staple for the community, providing many services such as food, ATM, medical and pharmaceutical, which they would otherwise have to go into San Fernando to access. She, too, believed its management had fallen on the wayside, with infrastructural and sanitary issues as examples.

With the HDC's commercial properties now under a microscope, Douglas said he was now worried about his future.

"I have to be concerned because I hadda stay here. I don't have a job outside. I depend on this. I depend on these people. I doing my part."

Speaking at the media conference on January 4, Khan slammed the previous administration for alleged financial mismanagement at the corporation.

He said his board inherited over $600 million in unpaid bills to contractors, a $300 million deficit in the employee pension fund and over $100 million in bank overdrafts. He said over the last decade, the cost to build one unit valued at around $500,000 ballooned to $2 million. Khan also alleged that over $150 million in maintenance contracts were given to people closely affiliated with members of the former administration.

Newsday was unable to get a comment from former Minister of Housing Camille Robinson-Regis on the allegation. Khan also did not respond to a request for an interview to delve further into the issues highlighted over the weekend.