Despite the inescapable association we hold between Takashimaya and Ngee Ann City (we can’t imagine them ever being apart), rifts are emerging in public view as they drag each other to court over rent.
The Straits Times reports that the landlord of Ngee Ann City and its anchor tenant Takashimaya have gone to High Court in a legal tussle over a 2014 agreement on how rental rate is to be valued.
Even after being seemingly best bros for 22 years, the deadlock emerged in 2013 after a review of rental rates. Ngee Ann proposed to up the rates to $19.83 per square foot a month, more than double the existing rates and even included a valuation report based on reconfigured layouts.
The departmental store rejected the report of course, and requested the usage of an external valuer to be nominated by both parties.
Ngee Ann however seemingly went behind Takashimaya’s back, sending a letter to valuers and telling them to use a hypothetical layout without CC-ing it to the departmental store’s side of things. Ngee Ann claimed it was an “administrative oversight”.
After further disagreements, Ngee Ann sued their long-standing tenant to compel them to follow the agreement. Bros no more we guess.
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