‘It doesn’t look good for the town to have so many stores empty,’ a Swarthmore merchant, who asked not to be identified, told the Palisadian-Post last Friday. These days, rumors abound on the future of Swarthmore where there are currently three vacant storefronts, all owned by the same landlord’Palisades Partners, the largest landowner in the Village. Now the question many people are asking is: Which store is next? Could it be Bentons, The Sport Shop? Is it true that an out-of-area merchant is willing to pay ‘big bucks’ to take over the coveted 2,200 sq.ft. space, which is perhaps the reason the landlord rejected Benton’s latest lease proposal on Tuesday night? ‘Bob Benton has been in business here for 23 years,’ said Mike McCroskey, senior vice-president of CB Ellis Commercial Real Estate, who has been helping Benton with lease negotiations. ‘We made a fair offer. While the $2.50 Bob is currently paying may be below market, the $4.50 they are asking is too much. It’s gouging. No small business owner can afford that. I say $3.50 a square foot is more like it. I’ve told Bob so and I’ve also told the landlord.’ ‘Our local economy can’t support the kind of rent increases they are asking,’ said Chamber of Commerce president David Williams yesterday. ‘The landlord is just going to make it impossible for merchants on the street to stay in business. It’s as simple as that.’ Swarthmore merchants leasing from Palisades Partners were hit with a rent increase in January 2004. Most of them are now paying $2.50 a square foot, plus ‘triple net’ (a portion of sales to cover property taxes, insurance and maintenance). ‘The reason rents are going up on Swarthmore is because it was time to bring them closer to what they should be,’ said commercial leasing agent Gregg Pawlik of Coldwell Banker, who represents two of the vacant storefronts. One, the former site of Emerson LaMay Cleaners at 1045 Swarthmore (1,600 sq. ft.), has been vacant since April 2003 and is currently available for $4.25 a square foot. The second is the former Palisades Camera store at 1014 Swarthmore, which is available for $4.50, almost double what the former merchant was paying. Pawlik said that he has had inquiries to turn the 1,060-sq.-ft. space into, among other things, ‘a nail salon’ and ‘an upscale women’s dress shop.’ Pawlik also said he expects to list 1027 Swarthmore, which was voluntarily vacated by Billauer-Sato Chiropractic at the end of February, in the next couple of weeks. Asking price for the 1,092 sq. ft. space will be ‘in the $4 range,’ he said. ‘Can my business afford $4 or more a square foot? I don’t know. I will have to deal with that when the time comes,’ said Roy Robbins, who has owned his gift and stationery shop at 1030 Swarthmore for almost four years, and is vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. ‘What I do know is I can’t worry about a possible rent increase all the time. It’s paralyzing to me and my business. But it’s hard, given what’s going on. Most of us here are on month-to-month rental agreements.’ Ivy Greene, who has had a children’s clothing shop at 1020 Swarthmore for 10 years, agreed. ‘It’s scary living month-to-month. While they haven’t yet told us what the new increase will be, I hope it’s gradual so we can cope. I’d like to know how they came up with $4 a square foot. Is that market value? I don’t know. I’m just trying to run my business here.’ Will the prospective rent increase force Greene out of business? Is Swarthmore on its way to becoming another Montana Avenue? Is Palisades Partners, which owns all but four stores on the street, planning on eventually leasing most of the existing shops to large national retailers, such as the Gap and Banana Republic, as has been the buzz for months? Pawlik said it’s not the landlord’s intention to displace any of the existing tenants, pointing out that ‘no merchants have been evicted on the street. They either left voluntarily, as was the case with Billauer-Sato Chiropractic, or they were unable to come to an agreement with the landlord over the rent.’ ‘Everyone wants to blame the landlord for the vacancies, which is not quite fair,’ Pawlik said. ‘If all Palisades Partners cared about was money, they could have leased the sites long ago. Do we need more restaurants and hair salons on Swarthmore? They don’t think so. They’re looking for the right mix and that just hasn’t happened yet.’ As for Swarthmore becoming another Montana, where rents start at $6 to $7 a square foot, Pawlik said that ‘remains to be seen. And as for people thinking that big retailers are coming in here, it’s not going to happen. These storefronts are too small for them. However, I’m confident that we’ll have the three vacancies filled soon.’ Williams is skeptical, given the new rents. ‘What we are going to see is a revolving door of merchants. It’s going to be very bad for the town.’ McCroskey agreed. ‘The rents they are asking are simply too high. Swarthmore is not Montana Avenue and never will be because it doesn’t have the foot traffic. And any merchant who agrees to pay $5 a square foot will soon find out the business isn’t there and will want to pull out. What will happen to this community then?’ Merchants aren’t the only ones worried about the future of Swarthmore. ‘Why aren’t we doing more to protect the local businesses we already have?’ wonders long-time resident Richard Greene. ‘My willingness to pay a modest premium is useless if they are not there. We need and want a book store in the Palisades. Village Books opened up after Crown Books left town, remember?’ Yesterday morning, Bob Benton told the Post that he was still in shock over the landlord rejecting his latest proposal. Negotiations had been going on since November. Asked what his options were now, he said: ‘I don’t know. If we can’t resolve this, somehow, and I can’t find another location in the Palisades, I guess I will go out of business.’ The Post has not been able to identify the retailer who is purportedly willing to pay $5 a square foot for Benton’s space. Calls to Palisades Partners were not returned.
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