THE LOT THAT once housed Workbench Furniture Ltd. on Spring Garden will soon be on the market. Its owner, the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, will be putting it up for sale.
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss told the House of Assembly yesterday, the move was part of the agency’s move to raise cash for its balance sheets.
Workbench Furniture Ltd., was gutted by a blaze in April 2012. Inniss said it was one of seven fires which hit BIDC’s properties between 1999 and 2012 and which “[have] set things back a little”.
He added that while a number of buildings in the BIDC’s portfolio needed to be renovated, he stressed “we’re not going to have any fire sales. We’re not going to say get rid of all the state assets. That will not happen under my watch.”
Inniss, however, said any sales “must be strategically done”.
“The old Workbench site, sitting there on Spring Garden for year, that is about to be sold,” he said, adding that the BIDC had sold properties in its Wildey Industrial Estate to Moore Paragon, Chefette, Banks Holdings Ltd, Baker’s Choice and Automotive Arts. (HLE)
