UPDATE, 5/6/2020, 9:22am: Rent was not an issue in Target’s decision to leave the Fulham Gardens shopping centre, updates David Penberthy. Penbo reported on Friday:
“It turns out it was actually Target’s decision and Target’s decision alone to walk away from that shopping centre… there was no rent increase being proposed, quite the opposite. The owners have kindly given rent reductions to a whole bunch of businesses inside the shopping centre that have been affected by coronavirus… the businesses that were affected got 50 per cent discount on their rent.
“Target were quibbling and couldn’t make up their mind about how long the lease was going to be… in the end they thought basically it’s about overexposure… they couldn’t justify that level of presence in the western suburbs, but the good news is there are two new tenants moving in and they are Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s, so it’s not going to become some cavernous hole and there’s going to be a $10 million redevelopment there… so the shopping centre has got a bright future.”
EARLIER…
The popular Fulham Gardens Target is closing because the landlord is “demanding more rent”, reports FIVEAA Breakfast’s David Penberthy.
Penbo said during Thursday’s Breaking @ 8 segment:
“It’s been there for more than 40 years and it’s going to be closed in August.
“We’ve been told by an insider that the reason for its closure has absolutely nothing to do with Wesfarmers and everything to do with the fact that the landlord – in the middle of a pandemic – is demanding more rent.
“He wants to put up the rent and the increase is so onerous the store is no longer sustainable. The insider has told us that as a result of this more people will lose their jobs unless they can be relocated…
“You would worry that with fewer people going there on account of the Target being closed there will be less trade for other businesses.
“I would’ve thought at a time when both the state and federal governments have said even the paying of rent itself – people were meant to be given a bit of a honeymoon… it seems unconscionable…
“Whoever the local member is there, this is something we believe they should raise with the state government.”
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