Source: MovieTowne will only pay what's fair

A source close to the management of MovieTowne Holdings says the company is prepared to pay what is fair in its rent dispute with the Port of Spain Infrastructure Development Company (POSINCO).

MovieTowne multiplex, entertainment and commercial centre at Invaders Bay, Port of Spain, sits on land leased to MovieTowne Holdings’s subsidiary company Trinbago Commercial Development Company Ltd (TCDC) by the Port Authority of TT’s real estate manager, POSINCO.

On August 23, bailiffs took control of MovieTowne’s office and banquet hall as POSINCO claimed TCDC owed $10,904,121.23 million in rent accumulated between May 2021 and August 2024.

Tenants were given letters on August 23, in which POSINCO asserted that it had become the owner of the premises as it had exercised its rights to terminate MovieTowne's lease and take possession of the premises.

At a virtual hearing on August 26, before Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell, attorneys for TCDC and POSINCO trashed out an agreement which will stay in place until the High Court determines the rent dispute between them.

According to the order, TCDC will pay $3 million on or before August 28 while POSINCO will not disturb the occupation of MovieTowne’s tenants pending the outcome of the High Court matter.

Speaking with Newsday after the agreement was finalised in a court order, the source said the company had no issue paying its rent, but was only prepared to pay the correct amount.

The source said POSINCO was calculating the rent figure for MovieTowne incorrectly.

“They are calculating the rent based on the whole development when it's supposed to be only on the raw land. When MovieTowne leased that land back in 2000 it was a swamp and nobody wanted it, that's why the company got it.

"But they're going to get valuations for the land now (to determine our rent), like, if they built the buildings and all infrastructure so they obviously changed the rate dramatically.”

The source said any move to increase the rate could have a dangerous trickle-down effect on many of the businesses on the compound.

“They're trying (to raise the rent) and MovieTowne would have to increase the rates and rent to all the tenants. If they do that, the tenants might leave because everybody catching their royals right now.”

The source brushed aside questions of the company’s ability to pay the rent or the $3 million agreed to in court by August 28.

“You think MovieTowne can’t find three million dollars? How much you think that company is worth?”

“The company put aside money for that. It could pay quite easily, but the point is that MovieTowne wants to pay the correct amount.

The source alleged POSINCO and MovieTowne officials met last week to discuss the issue and even shook hands on it. So, the source said, the move to take control of the compound last week came as a shock.

“MovieTowne executives met with them last week with the chairman and shook hands and everything. MovieTowne said, ‘Okay, we'll pay you this, we'll pay you that, give us a little time on this part. No problem.’ But then they come and do this.”

The source said the move by POSINCO coupled with other recent developments felt like an attack on the owner’s legacy and suggested there was a nefarious plot against the company by someone with an axe to grind.

In May it was revealed that MovieTowne owed the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) $93 million in unpaid taxes and penalties accumulated over a 20-year period. MovieTowne owner Derek Chin at the time said the matter was in negotiations and a payment plan was put in place.

“The BIR issue, MovieTowne has had it under control, but again it is being singled out. Somebody somewhere, some group is trying to steal MovieTowne for a reason. Is MovieTowne the only company in TT owing the port money?

“The port have plenty tenants all the way down Wrightson Road. But you come to MovieTowne?”

The source suggested there might be a connection between the location of MovieTowne and its proximity to the new Invaders Bay project.

“If you notice, in the last three months, there's been attacks on MovieTowne. I don’t know if it’s because of the Invader Project in the back.

"Who is getting land there? That is a good investigative report. Who is going there? Who has gotten land already? And MovieTowne is right at the entrance to that project.”

Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott) recently launched an expression of interest (EOI) for the Invaders Bay Development project.

The EOI aims to identify private-sector entities interested in leasing of land and construction of buildings on 13 parcels of land on the seafront behind MovieTowne .

The land is intended for commercial development including office and commercial spaces, recreational and entertainment facilities, hotel accommodation, conference and convention facilities, high rise residential units and a marina.