Elliot Lake City Council will take a look at a lease arrangement with the owner of the Pearson Plaza and Hart Stores, a Laval, Que.-based retail chain, on Tuesday night.
The proposed agreement lists McGowan & Associates Ltd. of Barrie, Ont. as landlord, the City of Elliot Lake as sub landlord and the tenant as Hart Stores of the Montreal, Que. suburb of Laval, as the principals involved.
It specifies a percentage lease for 7,271 square feet of retail space in Pearson Plaza, 40 Hillside Drive South.
According to the proposed agreement, Hart Stores would pay 10 per cent of the new store's net revenue each year as its lease payment for the space.
On the company website, Hart Stores states that after being founded by Harry Hart in Quebec in 1960. In 2015, Paul Nassar took over the reins of the company.
It now counts more than 80 Hart stores, as well as 20 Maison en Gros stores. The site says a growth plan is currently in place and more store openings are to come.
The company has stores in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick that offer fashion and basic apparel lines as well as home furnishing, house wares, gift wares, toys, bed and bath, and electronics.
During the period when retailer Turner's, the previous tenant, held the space in Pearson Plaza; reports indicated the city had been paying McGowan and Associates approximately $10,000 per month for the space. That lease reportedly remains in force between the city and McGowan until 2025.
Since the closure of Turner's in early 2019, the space was briefly used as an Elections Canada office for three months for the Deputy Returning officer for the federal riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing. That was prior to the October 2019 federal election.
The deal with McGowan and Hart Stores will be considered next Tuesday night during a Special Meeting of Elliot Lake City Council in City Hall at 6:30 p.m.
The meeting will be livestreamed on the City of Elliot Lake website.