The Velvet to close its doors

Current lease will not be renewed as years of failure to upkeep and maintain building takes a heavy toll

The Velvet Jazz Lounge, currently situated in the East London Harbour’s Latimer’s Landing building, will not be renewing its lease at the end of January 2019, leaving the once lively hub a vacant shell of what it used to be.
Alfredo Naidoo, founder and owner of the Velvet Jazz Lounge, said that he is not willing to stay in the current premises due to years of a lack of upkeep and maintenance to the building and surrounding area.“It’s a beautiful spot, but in the five years I have been here I have not seen any upkeep or maintenance to the building.
It once took me six months to convince management to fix a plumbing problem in the ladies toilet, and the building’s roof is still leaking from when I moved in,” said Naidoo.According to port manager Sharon Sijako, an excess of R3m was spent on the maintenance of the buildings at Latimer’s Landing over the last five years, with the exception of the jetty.
Port corporate affairs manager Terry Taylor said that over the last five years a huge scope of work took place, including painting the building inside and outside, water proofing of roofs, installing hand rails, repairing paving and replacing of a water main.He said that the Velvet Jazz Lounge has also received maintenance and support, including tiling of the balcony area and repairs to hand railings, doors and a leaking toilet. Currently, the building and outside area is sporting cracks in the outside wall, chipping paint, piled up litter in the back cages, and the jetty is unsafe and in bad shape.
Sijako said: “The Latimer’s Landing jetty is awaiting approval from the Eastern Cape Heritage Resource Authority (ECHRA). Upon approval, the jetty will be replaced in line with the conditions of the permit.”According to ECHRA project officer Africa Maxologo, legislation states that no structural work can be done to structures older than 60 years.
“There is no reason why the permit will not be given. We have no objection. We are just waiting for the final documentation from TNPA. We all want our very own VNA Water Front here in East London, but we must be mindful and comply with legislation,” said Maxologo.
The section of the Latimer’s Landing building that used to house the Footprints Restaurant has also been vacant for the last two years.According to Sijako, this part of the building was previously advertised, but none of the prospective bidders met the minimum requirements.
She said that the entire Latimer’s Landing building was recently advertised in the Daily Dispatch, Herald and Sunday Times via an open and transparent tender process.“The adjudication process to evaluate the bids is currently under way,” said Sijako.
Sijako said that the prospective tenants will be responsible for the refurbishment and maintenance of the premises they occupy as per standard lease agreement requirements, but that the “general upkeep” of the area will be undertaken by TNPA.The Velvet Jazz Lounge will be closing for a year, but Naidoo hopes to find suitable premises where he can reopen in 2020.
For the remainder of November and for December, the Velvet Jazz Lounge will be having a summer Jazz series and Summer Club series...

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