By Roux van Zyl

A developer with a R60-million plan to build a hi-tech retail and office complex in East London's city centre claims that the Buffalo City Municipality sent him from pillar to post for almost two years before rejecting his bid.

Leseda Properties managing director Leslie Belikoff said he was "embarrassed by the unprofessional" way in which the municipality handled his bid and now feared he would lose the development's anchor tenant, Pick 'n Pay.

Yesterday, the municipality told the Dispatch the development was rejected because the site which consists of parking areas on both sides of Oxford Street and is bounded by Fleet Street was earmarked for its civic centre.

Belikoff said he had to wait one-and-a-half years to get the same response. "I think they are wrong but I may be biased."

He added: "I am actually embarrassed that East London treats investors like this. I now find myself in a ridiculous situation: I've wasted my time and the architects' time.

"Their lack of response was unprofessional."

Belikoff's ordeal started in April 2004 when Leseda approached the City authorities with their plans. During the meeting Leseda also offered two floors of office space to the municipality.

Following the meeting, they approached Pick 'n Pay to anchor the development.

A formal presentation was made to the BCM by Leseda and architects Bental and Associates.

Belikoff said he was told at the meeting that their bid had to go through 12 different sections of the municipality before being presented to the City Council.

"This was supposed to take four to six months. By July, we had received no response. At this stage we telephoned and e-mailed multiple times to find out the situation with no response from them whatsoever," Belikoff said.

Leseda, however, continued to negotiate with Pick 'n Pay and signed an agreement with the retailer for a 15-year lease, with the option to extend it for another 10 years.

"Once we had established this, we approached other potential tenants for line shops and restaurants with promising forecasts," Belikoff said.

But by December he learnt that "nothing whatsoever" had been done by BCM after their presentation and "no explanation was offered".

"Finally, after persistent enquiries we were told (in March) that the Council had turned down our presentation, because the BCM decided to develop a civic centre on the site."

Yesterday, Craig Sam, BCM director of Development Planning, said he was aware of Leseda's proposal.

"We informed him (Belikoff) that the municipality had plans to build its civic centre on that site. His attorney phoned me and requested to meet me, but I refused as his application had already been rejected by Council."

But Belikoff said the municipality was already thinking about the civic centre three years ago and were "still thinking about it, while this development could have been up and running by now".

At a full council meeting in June last year, BCM chief finance officer Brian Shepherd was mandated to undertake a financial feasibility study of the construction of a new civic centre the fourth one since the late 1990s.

The third study, reviewed in 2004, resulted in the City calling for developers interested in developing the new civic centre to come forward. But the proposals, in the R160m-R240m range, were not considered because the municipality could not afford it.