(Trinidad Express) The action to repossess the MovieTowne cineplex in Port of Spain was an act of thuggery that caused great embarrassment and loss of money, said chairman of Trinbago Commercial Development Company Ltd (TCDC) Derek Chin.
On Friday, landlord for the Port Authority, the Port of Spain Infrastructure Company Ltd (POSINCO), sent bailiffs who descended on MovieTowne at Invaders Bay to repossess the complex for what POSINCO said was $10 million in owed rent.
They also served tenants letters, stating that POSINCO had exercised its rights under the head lease to take possession of the premises and rents should be remitted to the company.
In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Chin said this caused him great embarrassment.
He said it severely impacted business as on Friday evening into Saturday there were fewer people going to MovieTowne.
He said the C3 cineplex at Corinth in South Trinidad did better than the Port of Spain complex, which has never happened before.
“We have built an iconic brand. This is a Trinidad and Tobago company that has done very very well. People recognise what we have done, it adds a new dimension to a company,” he said.
He said the country was suffering from a lot of darkness in terms of crime and the deterioration of family life and MovieTowne brought families together.
Chin noted that MovieTowne employs over 1,200 people and over 2,500 are employed at the entertainment and shopping complex.
He said he was hopeful there will be resolution in the courts today.
The levy action came as a shock, Chin said.
“We were having talks in goodwill and then you want to close me down without negotiating?” he asked.
Chin said every five years there are discussions about the renewal of the rental rate and they last agreed to $5 per square foot as he noted the property spans over 50,000 square feet.
He said during the Covid-19 pandemic, because of the imposition of public health regulations, businesses were destroyed as many were forced to shut down and tenants were unable to pay anything.
TCDC received a reduction in rent, he said.
However, as businesses were trying to rebound, POSINCO reinstated the full rent at 100%, which TCDC objected to, Chin said.
He said a valuation was done by a chartered valuation company and initially TCDC agreed to pay what the report determined.
However, he said TCDC believed the assessment was flawed because it was supposed to have been done on the raw land and not all the infrastructure at MovieTowne.
“The Port only rented me raw swampy land back in 2000 and there was no infrastructure like what UDeCOTT is doing behind me and they now want to charge us as if they own the buildings and they put it up, and that’s wrong,” Chin argued.
He said the lease had indicated that TCDC was to be charged based on the valuation of raw land.
“If you look at all the land around us and all the development around us and we were paying substantially high, like $2-$3 more per square foot,” he said.
He said the assessment was flawed and “we have been overpaying” and TCDC overpaid to the tune of $5 million.
“They are saying we owe $10 million. So we say okay, well take out the overpayment and we will pay off the balance, simple as that. So we went back and forth because they don’t want to accept that,” he said.
Chin said this year PATT chairman Col Lyle Alexander called him twice asking to have meetings with him.
He said he agreed but indicated he did not want to meet one on one, but wanted to bring his team.
Chin said they had meetings in July and August and at the last meeting they agreed to pay the rent and have the court deal with other substantive issues.
He said TCDC indicated that the arbitration process would take very long and would costly and it was better to go to court.
“They came and they said okay, they would go to the court. This was on August 22,” he said.
Chin said, a day later, on Friday, they came to levy upon TCDC.
“Instead of negotiations and coming to a compromise, they raid us and try to embarrass me,” he said. “What makes you all feel that you can walk in the place and claim to take my property? They did not put down any infrastructure. All you have is the raw land and we pay rent for that, more than anybody else in that area.”
Court action
On Saturday, TCDC obtained an injunction from the High Court preventing POSINCO from communicating with tenants at MovieTowne.
In her order, Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell ordered that
POSINCO is restrained from issuing communications in any form to the tenants of the claimant who are occupying any part(s) of the buildings located at MovieTowne.
A hearing is scheduled for today at 9 a.m. via virtual hearing before Justice Donaldson-Honeywell.
