Fisher and Paykel Appliances has taken a 10-year lease in the recently opened $34 million Wall Street mall owned by the Dunedin City Council, boosting the number of full-time employees at the complex by 150.
Confirmation of Appliances' lease, first disclosed in the Otago Daily Times last month, has prompted the council's property division to reiterate it does not offer incentives to would-be leasees beyond standard leasing practices.
Appliances has virtually closed its doors at its Mosgiel manufacturing plant after 23 years, with the loss of 430 jobs, in preferance to manufacturing in cheaper labour countries, such as Mexico and Thailand, to combat rising costs.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said Appliances' decision to take the long-term lease "vindicated" the council's decision to invest in the centre of the city's retail area.
"One hundred and fifty new workers slap bang in the middle of George St, and it is a further indication from Fisher and Paykel that they haven't deserted Dunedin," Mr Chin said in a statement yesterday.
Council manager of city property Robert Clark said, when contacted, Appliances was Wall Street's 14th new leasee, with the other 13 "on average" signed up for terms of six to 10 years.
He rejected speculation in the city about alleged "incentives" being offered to would-be Wall Street leasees, such as a rumour of one year's free rent, saying no-one had received a year rent free.
Only one applicant leasee had "pushed the boundaries" of acceptable incentives, and they were not a Wall Street tenant.
Mr Clark said the "market-related incentives" of the council's property division were in line with all building-lease arrangements and incentives in Dunedin.
Incentives at Wall Street included assistance with fit-out costs and unspecified "rent holidays" during the initial business start-up period.
Appliances was not receiving a rent holiday.
Real estate sources said "rent holidays" in Dunedin could be several weeks spread over a year but rarely accumulated to a total of more than one or two months, and were generally taken at the beginning of a lease period.
It was expected Appliances' 150 staff, from its Design Centre of Excellence and new Global Call Centre, would be installed by July 2009, Appliances vice-president of investor relations Paul Brockett said in the council-released statement.
The call centre would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
