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“I’m observing a lot of tension between landlords and tenants,” he said. “Everyone is feeling the effect of this, so you could say there’s a lot of heartache, but a lot of opportunity as well.”
Murphy said as many as 160 restaurants would be for sale at any given point prior to the pandemic, but that number has rapidly risen in the past two months.
“I’ve been on the phone with 14 clients today saying they are not going to be able to open up, even when they’re allowed to,” he said. “At the same time, I’ve got someone giving me a call saying they’re interested in buying a brewery, so how about that?”
Much of Murphy’s work over the past few weeks has been trying to convince landlords on the verge of evicting bar and restaurant tenants that they might not be able to find a new tenant willing to sign a lease.
There’s a lot of heartache, but a lot of opportunity as well
Stephen Murphy
“It takes four months to get a liquor licence now. Then a few more months to fix up the place, so even with a new tenant, they’re probably not going to be able to pay you rent for maybe three quarters of the year,” he said. “Why not use the government rent relief program and work with the tenant?”
Both The Hideout and Pretty Ugly — clients of Murphy’s — were locked out of their premises after failing to pay rent. The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program was first announced April 16, but landlords can’t apply until May 25, so in the interim they have been either crafting their own deals with tenants, or kicking non-paying tenants out, he said.
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