By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunmedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port yesterday said it had waived the first year’s rent for its marketplace tenants to help grow their businesses after several complained about the cost and lease terms they must sign up to.

The Prince George Wharf operator, in a statement, said it has also brokered a deal that will enable those tenants selling “authentically Bahamian products” to meet the $1m minimum “general liability insurance” coverage at “minimal cost”.

Responding to vendor concerns, it confirmed: “To alleviate the financial burden on its Marketplace tenants, the Nassau Cruise Port is providing one year rent-free to leaseholding tenants. This unprecedented initiative allows these small business owners to focus on their growth and development without the immediate pressure of rent expenses.

“The waiving of rent for a year also allows tenants to adjust their authentic products and non-Bahamian product offerings to be better aligned with demand. The rent waiver gives the tenants an opportunity to refine their products and promote their unique artistic offerings. In addition, tenants were only required to pay a security deposit, not first and last month’s rent.

“Nassau Cruise Port [has also] brokered a deal to provide liability insurance coverage for each tenant at Nassau Cruise Port for a minimal cost, saving time, money and effort and ultimately benefiting all of the tenants.” Tenants also received an up to $20,000 grant to fit out their spaces. Its response came after Nassau Cruise Port Tenant Association members yesterday voiced complaints about the working conditions and lease agreements.

Yvette Prince, president of the Association, asserted that working conditions are harsh as their stalls lack ventilation and proper overhead protection from the elements. She added that appeals to Nassau Cruise Port to construct a canopy to avoid workers and products getting wet in the rain have been denied.

She said: “It’s been so many issues. We’ve just been there two months. When it rains, we’re getting wet. Our products are getting wet. There’s also flooding there. You know, if you’re not mopping your floor, the water goes straight to the back and it wetting up your products.

“For a new port, the design is really poor. We don’t have no windows; it’s only ten by ten. There’s a little storage area in the back, there’s no windows in there. There’s no ventilation. It’s just totally hot. There was a little mini-storm out there and a tenant got soaked and her products got soaked, and we asked if they could put up a canopy. They said it’ll never happen. They’re not willing to work with us to make things better.”

Ms Prince alleged that Nassau Cruise Port, which is 49 percent owned and controlled by Global Ports Holding, has not fulfilled its promises but some vendors have signed their lease agreements out of “fear of victimisation’ while others have outright refused to sign.

She said: “I have been in communications with Mr Maura (Nassau Cruise Port’s chief executive) from the very beginning, from conception, and they promised us a lot of stuff and they did nothing that they promise. I cannot think of one thing that they promised that they did.

“Management up there has so much division. People have signed leases that they don’t agree with, but they did it out of fear of victimisation. There are things on the lease that should not be there. And so we decided we’re not going to sign it. I mean, because leases are legally binding documents.”

A copy of the vendor lease agreements, seen by Tribune Business, confirms that the first year is rent-free. It stipulates: “The first year of the term shall be rent free. The rent payable hereunder for the second year of the term shall be $1,000.

“As from the third year of the term until the termination of this lease agreement, the fixed rent shall be adjusted on a yearly basis to reflect any aggregate increase in the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) as published by the Bahamas Department of Statistics over the preceding year.” A common area charge of $3,000 per year, or $250 per month, is also applied to help cover the Nassau Cruise Port’s marketing and maintenance costs - the equivalent of $1,250 per month.

Ms Prince said tenants are opposed to terms in the lease such as the $1m general liability insurance coverage and having to gain Nassau Cruise Port’s permission to open another business at a New Providence resort.

She said: “One of the things that they want us to sign on the lease says if we signed the lease, if we have an existing business, they want to know where it is. And if we want to have another business, we have to get permission from them. There was no way that I would put my signature on something like that.

“They want everybody to get $1m worth of insurance, and we sign them as the beneficiary. If something happens to our products and our environment, we have to be responsible for it. That don’t make sense to me. Everything that they promised us they did nothing because they said they would get a group insurance and we would all pay a portion of it every month.”

The lease agreement seen by Tribune Business confirms that marketplace tenants cannot open a “competing retail shop” at any other New Providence or Paradise Island resort without the cruise port’s permission. 

“The tenant agrees that, during the term of this lease agreement, it shall not own or operate, whether on its own, or in partnership, or other form of association with another, any competing retail shop in any other resort on Paradise Island or New Providence without prior written consent of the landlord, save and except those currently so owned and/or operated as listed” in an annex to the agreement, the lease document said. Those exceptions were not noted.

As for insurance, the lease stipulates: “The tenant shall procure, maintain and renew, at minimum, such general liability insurance, and at such limits of cover, from such reputable insurance as the landlord shall reasonably require and accept with a coverage level of at least $1m.

“In addition, the Tenant shall maintain builder’s insurance, fire insurance, liability and such other insurance as are reasonable and responsible in connection with fitting out and operating the leased premises with coverages for, among others, sprinkler leakage, waste water and water flooding with a coverage level of at least $1m.

“The tenant shall also take-out Contractors All Risk insurance with regards to the fit-up of the space and equal the value of the planned fit-out. The tenant shall name the landlord, its shareholders, affiliates and subsidiaries as additional insureds on such policies of insurance, and such insurance shall be primary and non- contributory with respect to the landlord.”