(WSVN) - After putting in blood, sweat and tears into their stores, a group of small business owners are worried their years of hard work were for nothing.
Seven’s Kevin Ozebek investigates.
For nearly ten years, Corlette Anderson has been turning hair into art at Corlette’s Eden Salon.
Corlette Anderson/salon owner: “I can’t believe I started a business in America.”
Kevin Ozebek: “Where are you originally from?
Corlette Anderson: “Jamaica.”
But after nine years of styling, developing products, and growing her business, Corlette’s lease at this Pembroke Pines shopping center is not being renewed.
Corlette Anderson: “It’s gone. It’s gone.”
Kevin Ozebek: “That idea of the American dream is gone now?”
Corlette Anderson: “Yeah. It feels like I failed. It doesn’t feel like something happened to me. It just feels like being grossly unprepared.”
Several other store owners at the Palm Square Plaza told us their leases are also not being renewed.
And they need to be out by the end of May.
Luz Montoya/Dog groomer: “Good boy!”
Luz Montoya owns fabulous pets where she’s been grooming dogs since 2014.
Luz Montoya: “It’s just devastating. I worked so hard in this business. I’ve been through so much.”
If Luz can’t find a new space to rent, she doesn’t know how she’ll afford her apartment.
Kevin Ozebek: “How worried are you about providing for your two kids?”
Luz Montoya:: “Oh I am like, ‘I don’t even know what to do. This is my only income.'”
Misty and Andrew Thomas own the business next door.
Andrew Thomas/smoke shop owner: “I am feeling really, really hurt. I built this business before the pandemic and it just kind of took off during the pandemic.”
Their high-end smoke shop also carries exotic snacks from around the world.
Misty Thomas/smoke shop owner: “It causes a domino effect. If someone doesn’t have their business, that’s a loss of income. And then we also have bills to worry about, a roof to have overhead. Need to put food on the table.”
The owner of the plaza has every right not to renew leases, but for the tenants, the timing stings. Just like residential rents in South Florida have skyrocketed, so have commercial rents.
Misty Thomas: “Well, we are trying to find a new location. It’s not been easy.”
Misty, as well as Luz, pay a base rent of about $1,500 a month.
They’re finding retail locations for the same size now cost more than $3,000 a month.
Corlette, whose rent is slightly higher, saw a salon space for the same size as high as $7,000 a month.
Corlette Anderson: “The market is horrible. This is South Florida.”
Commercial real estate is slumping in most of the country but surging here because people and businesses keep moving in from elsewhere.
Suzanne Hollander/commercial real estate broker: “Hot. It is that hot. The current state of the market is that our retail is out performing retail around the country.”
Misty and Andrew, as well as Luz are still frantically looking for a new retail spot.
But since we first met Corlette, she has found a new salon space just down the street.
Corlette Anderson: “Yes it is 40% more than what I pay here, which you know is daunting. But there was the option of not having a space.”
So it may take more work to pay for the extra rent, but for her, the American dream is revived.
Kevin Ozebek, 7News.
Because property is so hot in South Florida, some strip malls are being converted into other uses
7News reached out to the owner of the Palm Square Plaza to ask what his plans are, but have yet to hear back.
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