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Shopping plaza condemnation action not good for business
Adam Bernal /San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Some tenants in the formerly condemned section of the Butterfield Shopping Plaza have been experiencing a drop in business and are blaming the problem on confusion over the current state of the building.
To remedy this problem, the City of Benson sent an updated addendum last month to state the entire condemnation has been fully rescinded and did not only count toward the days to vacate.
On July 24, Benson Building Official Mike Lockett sent out an addendum to the original rescinding of the condemnation sent on June 5 to clear up any confusion on the status of the condemnation. The revised statement is nearly identical to the original, but with clarified language that states the 30-day notice to vacate, the 120-day extension and the entire condemnation have all been rescinded.
Gary Nerud, co-owner of Spur Western Wear, said he has been losing business to local competitors at the franchise's Benson location due to rumors that said the store would be moving or closing in the near future.
"We don't want anybody believing we're closing the store," Nerud said. "It's an important store to our organization and Benson is an important community to us."
In addition, Nerud said the condemnation also caused problems for his business in that he was unable to qualify for insurance and worker's compensation.
After receiving the updated letter last month, Nerud said he finally felt like the condemnation was completely erased and there could be no more questions.
Nerud said he has no plans to close the Spur Western Wear location in Benson and believes the issue is going in a positive direction.
The Beijing Restaurant has also seen a drop in business over the last several months, with management starting to wonder if customers have gotten the false idea that the restaurant was being forced to move because the building had been condemned.
Lockett said the recent addendum sent to Retail A tenants was meant to clarify the rescinding and clearly state that it counted toward the entire condemnation and not just the days to vacate.
"We amended the rescind notice to add the language of the condemnation," Lockett said.
Though he said Nerud was the only business owner who directly approached him about having business problems from the condemnation, Lockett said the addendum was made for the benefit of the tenants and should take care of any confusion surrounding the issue.
Some tenants in the formerly condemned section of the Butterfield Shopping Plaza have been experiencing a drop in business and are blaming the problem on confusion over the current state of the building.
To remedy this problem, the City of Benson sent an updated addendum last month to state the entire condemnation has been fully rescinded and did not only count toward the days to vacate.
On July 24, Benson Building Official Mike Lockett sent out an addendum to the original rescinding of the condemnation sent on June 5 to clear up any confusion on the status of the condemnation. The revised statement is nearly identical to the original, but with clarified language that states the 30-day notice to vacate, the 120-day extension and the entire condemnation have all been rescinded.
Gary Nerud, co-owner of Spur Western Wear, said he has been losing business to local competitors at the franchise's Benson location due to rumors that said the store would be moving or closing in the near future.
"We don't want anybody believing we're closing the store," Nerud said. "It's an important store to our organization and Benson is an important community to us."
In addition, Nerud said the condemnation also caused problems for his business in that he was unable to qualify for insurance and worker's compensation.
After receiving the updated letter last month, Nerud said he finally felt like the condemnation was completely erased and there could be no more questions.
Nerud said he has no plans to close the Spur Western Wear location in Benson and believes the issue is going in a positive direction.
The Beijing Restaurant has also seen a drop in business over the last several months, with management starting to wonder if customers have gotten the false idea that the restaurant was being forced to move because the building had been condemned.
Lockett said the recent addendum sent to Retail A tenants was meant to clarify the rescinding and clearly state that it counted toward the entire condemnation and not just the days to vacate.
"We amended the rescind notice to add the language of the condemnation," Lockett said.
Though he said Nerud was the only business owner who directly approached him about having business problems from the condemnation, Lockett said the addendum was made for the benefit of the tenants and should take care of any confusion surrounding the issue.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bensonnews-sun.com.
Other Reasons wrote on Aug 28, 2008 2:10 PM:
When ever you loose businesses in a setting like this it will affect the surrounding businesses.
Most of the businesses if not all were already aware of the buildings problems and were complaining wanting something done. Any of them at any time could have given notice and moved from the building but did not.
I wish our Mayor had been a little more wise about being so anxious to line his own pockets before jumping to pull these tenants out of this building.
These business owners have the right to go where ever they want to but might have been willing to stay if a new place to go hadn't been so available even to the point of violating city codes. No consideration was made by the Mayor of the businesses left behind or the building owner as a business member of our business community. This is a bad economic Development move on the part of the Mayor.
Mayor Fenn claims to be so upset about the condemnation in the first place but he sure jumped to get the business for himself. "