Coronavirus: Commercial & General starts campaign to give tenants a break

Commercial & General will not collect rental payments from small business tenants for the next three months under a new campaign.

Adelaide Restaurant and cafe owner Davide La Scala and his daughter Portia outside his Italian restaurant Est Ovest. Picture: News Corp Australia

Property giant Commercial & General will not collect any rental payments from all its small-business tenants for the next three months under the #suspendtherent campaign devised by executive chairman Jamie McClurg to pressure other landlords to follow suit.

In a huge boost to hospitality and retail businesses being smashed by the coronavirus, the Adelaide-based chairman of Commercial & General told The Weekend Australian he wanted #suspendtherent to become a national campaign urging corporate and private property owners to give business a three-month rent reprieve if they could afford to do so.

C&G has more than $2.2bn in delivered or ongoing projects across Australia, including Adelaide’s new $345m Calvary Hospital, and has significant retail holdings in its many residential and commercial property developments in South Australia and interstate.

They include the popular Italian restaurant Est Ovest in Adelaide’s CBD, whose owner Davide La Scala has been told by his landlord at his other restaurant, Bocelli, that no rent relief will be forthcoming.

“We are getting smashed at the moment, we have had a 50 per cent drop already and the worst is yet to come,” Mr LaScala told The Weekend Australian.

“I have just been sitting down tearing my hair out on the new floor plans after hearing the PM’s announcement about people being (1.5m) apart. At Bocelli we have 120 seats, so that will go down to 45, and Est Ovest will go from 70 seats to about 25. It’s a nightmare.

“I had written an email to Commercial and General explaining that we needed a bit of a breather and within five minutes Jamie (McClurg) rang me himself and said: ‘Mate, you don’t have to pay rent for three months.’

“I couldn’t believe it. It’s just so bloody helpful, and frankly we need all the help we can get.”

The reprieve will save Mr La Scala about $8000 a month in rent at Est Ovest but he is still facing a similar monthly bill for his Bocelli cafe and restaurant, where the landlord has said he is awaiting advice from banks and cannot do anything to help.

Many businesses in SA are becoming angered at the attitude of some old and cashed-up property-owning families who have made millions over the years buying up tiny businesses, but steadfastly refuse to offer relief when suburbs are affected by problems such as extended road closures, let alone a pandemic.

Mr McClurg said that he wanted as many landlords as possible to get behind #suspendtherent.

“Restaurants, cafes and hospitality businesses have all become innocent victims and we haven’t yet reached the worst of it,” Mr McClurg said.

“Now, more than ever, they need our support. They need us to back them to make sure they’re still here when we get through this.’’

Premier Steven Marshall paid tribute to Commercial & General and urged other landlords to follow suit.

“This is a great initiative that will help ease business cashflow burden at a time when many employers are working hard to keep the lights on, the doors open and their staff in jobs,” he told The Weekend Australian.