Traders ‘pushed over Edgewater’

Andrew Mathieson
TRADERS fearing they will be squeezed out when Geelong’s waterfront Edgewater complex goes to market are planning to fight back against their high rents.
The businesses are showing a “united front” to freeze further costs after two other tenants of the failed Edgewater went into liquidation in the first 18 months.
Panache cafe Edgewater and Blis Ice Cream proprietor Mark Oates said trading on the waterfront was no bed of roses.
“It gets painted really rosy down here all the time by the council but it’s hard work,” Mr Oates said.
“Come down here today (Wednesday) and you could shoot a gun at the place and not hit anybody.
“The rents are the biggest factor. They were set on a successful development and this has turned out to be far from it.
“It (Edgewater) has been in liquidation for over six months. We’ve only got half the residential components sold.”
Mr Oates said Edgewater went into liquidation after developer Solid Investments re-financed the project twice and was now in the hands of an administrator.
He believed the project failed because Solid Investments was unable to sell all the apartments after the project ran over time due to council knocking back initial plans on height grounds.
Mr Oates said rent costs on Geelong’s waterfront were “all over the shop” because landlords were treating it like “Sydney Harbour”.
“The problem is you get a lot of Melbourne and interstate developers come to Geelong and they base all their rent per square metre based on what they get in the CBD in Melbourne,” he said.
Waterfront tenants were forced to “pay for everything” from the start of their tenancy, he said.
Some of the costs included structural steel and acoustic ceilings, installing air-conditioning and paving alfresco areas at the front of shops.
Noah and Little giftshop owner Nola Merrin said she had to pay $60,000 to fit out her shopfront.
She said earning profits was hard when rents were so high and passing trade was limited.
“It’s very seasonal down here,” she said.
“Everyone thinks it’s wonderful on the waterfront. Well, you want to be here in the winter – it’s like a ghost town.”
The Independent was unable to contact a spokesperson for the administrator before going to press.
The Independent contacted a former director of Solid Investments but he declined to comment. A Melbourne phone number for Murray Stone, who was also a director of the company, was disconnected.