Businesses at Marginal Wharf in St David’s have been told they will need to move by the end of September to make room for a grocery store and warehouse.

Sources told The Royal Gazette that several businesses in the area were informed that their monthly leases with the Bermuda Land Management Corporation would end on September 30.

A person associated with one of the affected businesses at Marginal Wharf said the short notice made it virtually impossible for businesses to relocate their operations.

He said: “We got an e-mail today. All of us are running on a month-to-month basis, and they have done that deliberately so that if something happens they have a month to kick us out.”

He said that while businesses were aware that discussions were taking place, the history of failed proposals for the site had left them unsure if anything would actually take place.

He said: “We sort of knew something about it a year in advance, but didn’t think it would take place because we had so many promises over the years of companies taking over but nothing happens.

“The main thing that we are most worried about is are they going to do what they did before, make everybody go and nothing happens.

“We lose what we lose and they eventually can tear down the buildings.”

Businesses were previously told to depart Marginal Wharf in 2004 to make space for an affordable housing project, however, the project did not move forward on the site.

While a range of alternative projects have been suggested and the Bermuda Land Development Company — the precursor to the BLMC — had sought expressions of interests for the site, no major projects moved forward.

In June, the BLMC put out a public notice gauging interest in developing Marginal Wharf after the quango received a proposal from a private developer for the “long-term lease and development” of six acres of land.

Zane DeSilva, the Minister of Housing and Municipalities, announced at a press conference last week that Southside Holdings had approached the BLMC about its plan to consolidate warehousing operations for the wider Bermuda General Agency group.

The proposal was said to fulfil two objectives — the securing of significant private sector investment in the East End and the delivery of services called for by area residents for many years.