In a stunning development, a co-owner of Harry’s Ace Hardware discussed on a Franklin Today Facebook post that the business’s lease at Poth’s General might have to come to an end. The question is – will it be sooner or later?
Ben Gil, who has on his Facebook profile as a co-owner of Harry’s Ace Hardware, wrote a comment on an earlier FT post regarding the Poth’s TID approval, saying in part, “Our lease ends at the end of this year. We have a five-year option after that. And then they wanna double our rent and we cannot afford that. They wanna add in all of the exterior modifications to the building to our lease and make us pay for it.”
When asked by FT whether the option was under current rates or would be a new rate, Gil confirmed it would be under the current lease agreement but asked, “are they gonna leave our building untouched and looking like absolute trash while everything else looks good?”
During discussions about the Poth’s TID and the Orchard View redevelopment, retaining Harry’s Ace was a hot topic among many in the community. Poth’s received a big boost from city officials last week when the Common Council approved the creation of a TID to financially assist the developers as they redevelop the Orchard View strip mall into 292 apartments, 28,000 sq ft of retail and a 4,100 sq ft restaurant.