Camden-news-firms

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden New Journal - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 14 June 2007

Saad Saraf at James Cameron House

Firms’ rents double weeks after £5m
sale of complex

Town Hall accused of betrayal as boss says: ‘We will have to move’

THE Town Hall has been accused of betraying small businesses after rents in a complex of industrial units doubled within weeks of their secretive £5 million sale by the council to the owners of Camden market.
The 12-unit suite of small studios and offices at James Cameron House, in Camden Town, was sold in May to Ground Gilbey, whose shareholders also own acres of Stables market and Hawley Wharf.
Saad Saraf, whose Media Reach Advertising company has been in the Castlehaven Road complex for 16 years, received notice on Monday terminating his current lease in December. He has been invited to renew it at £45,000 a year, more than double his existing rent of £22,000.
Mr Saraf said he was now resigned to moving out. “We made 11 attempts to renew our lease while the sale was pending and were told the council had stopped renewing, but that we were assured that we could stay,” he added.
“Now we are being asked double what we were paying. Well done, Camden Council.
“Some of these guys will go to the wall now, and we will have to move. That rent would get you anywhere in London and certainly much better facilities than we have here.
“The council might as well have told us to get out at the start and sold everything to Ground Gilbey. We have been sold out.”
Negotiations over the sale of the building were conducted behind closed doors for 18 months after council finance chiefs agreed to waive planning rules protecting small business space because the unsolicited offer from Ground Gilbey was “sufficiently in excess of market value”. Councillors have defended the deal as getting best value for Camden.
A spokesman for Ground Gilbey said: “There are ongoing rent negotiations to reflect current market levels. The lease restructuring is to give future flexibility as none of the current leases terminate at the same time.
“In offering new leases we are making it clear we want the tenants to remain. There are no current plans other than to actively manage and maintain the property.”
A council press official said: “The sale represented a ‘special purchase value’ which was considerably in excess of market value. This included a share in any future redevelopment value.
“It also raised the possibility of the new owner being able to carry out a major redevelopment and regeneration of the area by combining the site with land the buyer already owned. The money raised will be reinvested in major capital projects like the refurbishment of Kentish Town baths.”
Small businesses could apply for vacant council-owned sites through its website, the official added.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Your Comments: