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City owed thousands in rent from 2011 Market Square vendors

While none of the current vendors are behind on their rent, several former Market Square tenants from last year still owe the city thousands of dollars in rent, Northern Life has learned.
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Market Square is seen in the early afternoon on July 28. While no current vendors are behind in their rent, the city is still trying to collect $8,800 owed from last year. Photo by Darren MacDonald

While none of the current vendors are behind on their rent, several former Market Square tenants from last year still owe the city thousands of dollars in rent, Northern Life has learned.

About $8,800 in rent from the 2011 season hasn’t been paid, according to a city official. That figure was much higher immediately at the end of last season, in October, when more than $29,000 in rent was in arrears, involving 25 vendors at the Square.

But by the end of November, the amount owing had been reduced to $18,000.

“Of the vendors who were in arrears, 13 vendors from the 2011 Market Square season were sent to an external collection agency, and nine of those remain outstanding, which represents approximately $8,800 fees to be collected,” Eleethea Savage, a business development officer with the City of Greater Sudbury, said in an email.

“It is very important to understand that these nine vendors are not currently 2012 vendors at Market Square and will not be considered eligible until these outstanding fees have been addressed.

“(And) we are very pleased to inform you that we currently do not have any vendors who are in arrears or behind in their 2012 fees.”

In a followup email, Savage said the amount outstanding from 2011 is unusually high. In fact, it’s more than the city is owed since it began operating out of Market Square in 2007.

“In total, since we assumed operations at Market Square, we have approximately $4,239 (this amounts represents approximately five vendors since 2007) that the city has not been able to collect,” Savage wrote, an amount that obviously does not include the $8,800 owed from last year.

She said vendors normally are expected to pay their rent by the first day of the month, although they are allowed a certain amount of flexibility. Any rent owed longer than 120 days is sent to a collection agency.

The Market Square season runs from the first Saturday in June to the last Sunday in October, operating each Saturday and Sunday. About 65,000 people a year visit the Square.

Monthly charges for a full stall inside Market Square is $408, while a kiosk goes for $350. An outside patio costs $290, while a spot on the west deck rents for $320.

The city pays about $65,000 a year to subsidize the cost of running the Square.

This will be the last year the facility will operate at its current location on Elgin Street in downtown Sudbury. It’s being relocated to make way for the new school of architecture. The most likely new site is the former CPR train station, located further up on Elgin. The two-phase proposal comes with a pricetag of about $5.75 million. By building the new Market Square in two phases, it will allow the facility to be open by the 2013 season.

While the total cost of the project is more than the $3.3-million budget provided through the sale of the current Market Square land to Laurentian University, the plan is to submit funding applications to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to try and make up the difference.

The CPR station itself measures 17,500 square feet and provides ample space for growth. Phase 1 would see about 82,000 square feet of the 188,000-square-foot CP Rail property developed along with the new market.

The interior of the station would be renovated to accommodate 16 indoor vendors, as well as a small kitchen to provide basic support for catered events. VIA would remain on-site in a new office space.

Outside, 30 outdoor tent-covered units would be put in place, with room for 169 parking spaces, which would still be available for monthly parking for the city when the market is not in use.

Phase 2, which will cost $2.4-million, would see more room built onto the east and west sides of the station for a combined total of an additional 3,320 square feet. The addition would be able to accommodate an additional 14 indoor vendors, bringing the total of 30 indoor stalls.

The kitchen would be enlarged into a community kitchen and a permanent outdoor canopy structure would replace the temporary tent units.

With files from Arron Pickard

Posted by Darren MacDonald 


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Darren MacDonald

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