A displaced Elephant and Castle trader must today (Friday 22 April) decide whether to accept developers’ proposals of £392,000 and a new retail unit, or risk having the offer rescinded.
Rakesh Patel has owned Pricebusters, a family-run business, for 35 years but has been forced to relocate due to the Elephant and Castle shopping centre demolition.
Exclusive: Elephant shopping centre store ‘may have to pay hundreds of thousands’ to relocate
As well as the money provided by developers Delancey and Lendlease, Rakesh has raised £550,000 through loans, savings and borrowing from friends.
But he says this will still not be enough to refurbish the “empty shell” of a shopping unit provided by the developers.
He says he needs an extra £238,000 to cover relocations costs and has contacted the council, hoping that they will persuade the developers to extend the deadline and renegotiate the deal.
At a Walworth Hustings on Wednesday 20 April, Cllr Alice Macdonald, who is re-standing for election as a Labour candidate, said that conversations were taking place “at the highest levels” between the council and the developers.
He said: “I’m half hoping that because the council is there, that the developers will see a little bit of sense and be less bolshy.”
As part of the section 106 agreements signed, the developers must provide £634,700 to support the relocation of displaced traders,
They are also obliged to offer retail units on Elephant Park for the traders to move into.
Pricebusters have been offered one of these units but it doesn’t have lighting, plumbing or flooring.
Rakesh says the total costs of relocation and refitting will cost him a staggering £1,180,000, hence why he is asking for the additional £238,000 from the developers.
He also says he has told the developers that they can find their own contractors to carry out the required works if they don’t agree with his costings.
So far, Delancey has offered £192,000 while Lendlease are offering £200,000 which Rakesh says “is not enough”.
He also complained that “not a single unit” at the new Elephant Square development, which was supposed to house displaced traders, was “anywhere near the size” he needed.
A spokesperson for Lendlease said: “We’ve been working hard for some time with Mr Patel to secure Pricebusters’ future within Elephant Park and have made him several offers to do so of which our latest includes a heavily discounted rent, as well as a substantial contribution towards the fit out of the unit. Both those elements are at much more generous rates than required by planning regulations, but they reflect our appreciation of Pricebusters’ value to our local community.
“Over 20 retailers have now opened their doors within the Elephant Park development, and ten of these are local businesses taking advantage of discounted, affordable rents. We’re eager that Pricebusters become the eleventh of these businesses so they can maintain their presence in Elephant & Castle.”