Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Sentinel Property Group CEO Warren Ebert says Casuarina Square is the worst complex it owns in the country for crime, with weapons being left in gardens

Transcript

Sentinel Property Group CEO Warren Ebert says Casuarina Square is the worst complex it owns in the country for crime, with weapons being left in gardens · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is getting to that time of the year though,
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: when we're all heading out doing our last trips to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the shops and heading off to get everything that we
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: need for Christmas. And joining me on the line right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: now is the CEO of Well, one of the city's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: biggest shopping centers. It is indeed Warren Ebbett, who is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the CEO of Sentinel Property Group. Good morning to you, Warren.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and yes everyone please get out and
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: spend big at the Catherina.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Squad Well, spend local. Get out there and go and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: do your shopping. Warren. How are things going and how
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: have they been at the center? Has there been a
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: mad rush?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Katie? I'm actually in towns Well at the moment, but
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I was up there a couple of weeks ago. And
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: even though we own this send either drive ram be
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: half now to find a car park. So it was
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: at six o'clock on a Friday night, and yeah, we
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: had to wait for someone to walk out of the
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: cinemas then follow them to their car like a stalker.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: To get a car.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: You get yourself reported.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: The first time. And then I actually on the Saturday morning,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: we were flying back to Brisbane and I got a
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: SMS from a friend of ours the same thing, trying
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to find a car park. So yeah, that's one of
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: the things we found when we're doing the new diligence
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: on Kasarina Squared. I think I've said it before in
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: your show. I used to go to Asia regularly, and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: you need to think, why all these people in these
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: shopping centers and when it's hot and humid, h you
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: know that that's what you want to do. And it's
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: got to be a big shopping center to walk around
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: so you can spend the day there without just sitting
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: in the one place. So no, it's trading, trading very well.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: We've we've had a couple of new shops open. We've
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: got a few more shops coming next year, so we
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: can't complain, you know that the one bugbear of security
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: which everyone knows about, we've you know, we've done a
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: few things there and we've got some other changes coming in.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Sorry I'm not here. We've got some other changes come
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: up to try and and change it. I'm sure we will,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: but it takes time. And like any change, Katie, you've
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: got to do one thing at the time. It's a
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: gradual process and it's probably going to take us twelve
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: months to instigate all the things we want to do.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: But we are and certainly that the Canaine Controls people
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: have noticed that we've put on some more security staff,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: and yeah, we are things people will see the gradual improvement.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Warren, how big an issue has the crime and the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: anti social behavior been at Casuarina? I know that you
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: know that you and I have spoken about it before,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: But how does it compare to shopping centers that you've
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: got in other states? Oh?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: By far the worst? Yeah, there are no there are
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: no comparisons. I suppose I'd like to compare Casarina Square
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: with our of Springs. At least we didn't have to
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: lock the whole place down for a couple of days.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: So it's not good. But you've got to crime in
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the NT. It's just terrible, you know, it's and it's
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a community white thing. You know, they have it in
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the CBD, they have it everywhere. But just when we
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: have eight point two minion visitors to Casarina Square every year,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: of course we are going to get more. And it's
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: you know, we now have the youths with their weapons
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: of choice. They don't bring them into the center because
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: we know we try to confiscate them where we can. Yeah,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: they'll wrap them up in a bit of plastic or
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: something and hide them in the gardens outside. So when
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: they choose their their fighting companion, I'll try to outside
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and then go to get their weapons. So our security
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: people regularly can patrol the gardens and yeah, they'll find
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: them wrapped up and they built plastic or something. So's
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: it's a problem, but it's a you know, it's a
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: problem all through the NT and it's I think on
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: the positive side, we come in at a time when
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the NT government have realized that they've got to things
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: have to change. And you know, I know that the
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: wokes out there would rather give them a cubble than
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: a slap, but that doesn't work. They just treat that
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: as a joke, as we see with how they laugh
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: at police and in Townsvill, you know that the kids
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: stealing the council just drive straight into a police cartee boning.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: It means that they'll get away with it. So it's
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: it's not good, but we've all got to work together
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and I'm not trying to make light of it. Is education.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: When these kids who are nine or ten. What are
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: their bloody parents doing.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it's it's tough, you know, and like that's the thing.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: And then you're trying to deal with that obviously from
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the shopping center perspective, but then trying to keep customers
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and trying to keep staff and everybody that's at the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: center safe.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that we're actually from many
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: from next week is we will have a gathering point
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for staff and I don't have the time for something
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that the center management could supply it to you. Where
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: we're staff if they're concerned about going back to the vehicle,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: they'll be able to gather in a couple of different
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: locations and security people will walk them to their carts. Now, wow,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: of course we would, we would. That's not what we
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: want to do, but we've got to try and keep
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: people safety and say, yeah, you've got crime everywhere, but
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: it's concentrated there. And I think one day this week
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: we had there was four hundred move ons by our
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: security people alone. Now we spend two point two many
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: a year, enormous amount army. Wow, and people have to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: remember it's not just our center, it is everywhere, and
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: we're spending the money and doing what we can to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: try and make people as safe as possible. But we
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: are implementing something else in the next ten days or
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: so that I don't want to talk about yet because
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I don't have people that complain about before we even instigata,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: but we are. There's a number of different measures we're
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: putting in. We do treat it serious. And I've said before,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: if someone out there has got the magic solution, please
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: tell us.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Warren. The fact that you're having to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: have sort of meet up points for staff then to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: be able to get back to their cars safely, that's
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: a pretty incredible, like, that's pretty incredible that it's reached
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: that point.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely disgraceful, Katie, Absolutely disgraceful. But that's some of the
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: and the stop to us. And I'll tell this, but
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: it is mostly used because they know that there is
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: very little that can be done. And I don't think, say, oh,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: but the don Dale's full, will it make it bigger
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: and fill it up with more. If you don't do
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: the crime, you don't do the time warrant. I know
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: we've got to educate, but it's it's terrible.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I know you touched on more than two million dollars
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: being spent then on security. Is that something that Sentinel's
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: footing the bill for or are the businesses that are
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: inside Casarina having to pay for that security?
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Well? What the businesses do? Because that's part of your
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: or income. So you know we have outgoings of well,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: we spend over five million dollars a year on cleaning
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: and security and the tenants Yah, the our income comes
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: from rental. Yeah, so you know when we have higher expenses,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: we have to put the rental up to cover it. Now, certainly,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: if we weren't spending it on that, we would be
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: able to make a bigger profit. But you know, we
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: if the center isn't safe, and if it's not clean
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: and airconditioning working, then you don't have a decent center.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: So indirectly, the tenants certainly pay for it. On I
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: suppose the public and say they pay for it, yeah,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: because the tenants. The tenants have got to charge a
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: certain price for the goods in order to make a profit,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: so we all pay for it.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Eventually, Wall and I am running out of time, but
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you, you know, in terms
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of the bus exchange, I know that that's something that
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you and I had spoken about before. Has there been
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: much of an update in terms of the relocation of that.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Well, we have a final design in with I think
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: it's for their approval, so we believe we've agreed on
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: a location for that. Now the costs have blown out
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: about another ten million rather than a bit over twenty
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: in total, it's getting to thirty which is not good.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: So the government have been good to work with, but
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: they can't control the costs. So we're hoping that we
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: can start work mid next year or something like that.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: So we have made progress. The design that the previous
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: owners had just didn't work, so in six months we've
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: completely redone the design and we have something that all
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: parties have agreed. Obviously, just going through the approval process.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Well, Warren, Unfortunately we've run out of time. Always appreciate
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you having a chat with us. Thank you very much
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: for your time this year, and I hope you have
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a merry Christmas.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Thanks your time, Katie. We're up from the seventeenth to
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: twentieth of February sorry January, so we may be able
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: to catch up there and discuss some issues a bit further.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good on you, Warren. Thanks for your time this morning.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katy, thank you