Southside small business owners who will be forced to relocate their operations to make way for an affordable housing project have expressed concerns at the plan.

Last week Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent announced plans to build 200 new homes - some costing as little as $195,000 - on land that currently houses warehouses occupied by small businesses.

The current tenants rent the buildings from the Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC), which has responsibility for the land.

Yesterday several business owners, who now have seven months to vacate the property, told The Royal Gazette that, although they always realised they would have to leave as they are on prime waterfront real estate, their businesses now faced an uncertain future.

William Phillipson who co-owns welding company Bill Phillipson and Son, said he was under the impression that office buildings were to be built on the property.

He felt that low-cost housing was not the solution for the area.

“If you're going to put condos down here put condos but not low cost housing,” Mr. Phillipson said.

“It's going to jeopardise the property all the way down from here,” he added, pointing east along St. David's Road.

Mr. Phillipson was also angered at the lack of industrial space on the Island and said he did not now know where he will move his business once he is forced out of the building he is currently in.

AmBer Fisheries owner Jim Anthony said: “We'd been told that things were going to happen and that they (BLDC) would accommodate us across the street. That was going to be in a year to a year-and-a-half but now with this plan we've been backed down to six months.”

Mr. Anthony said he has been working with BLDC and is currently in meetings with the company. “It's not just people who need houses but people with businesses as well,” he said.

Johnny Trimingham, who owns Peppercorn Marine, said he knew the move was “inevitable”.

“They (BLDC) would do what they could to offer us space but it's a bit expensive and fancy for what we need.”

He added: “The Bermuda Government even more than BLDC needs to recognise that there is a need to reserve and preserve space for small businesses as it is dwindling as businesses continue to grow both in size and numbers.

“As there is a provision for housing there needs to be a provision for small business at a fair price.”

He said there were about 35 businesses working out of the warehouses at Southside with at least 150 to 200 employees in the area.

BLDC media relations officer Richard Calderon explained that 90,000 square feet of industrial space was being developed just across from the current warehouses. When asked why BLDC had decided to build extra industrial buildings he said: “We're concerned with keeping them (the current tenants) as tenants and there was a great demand for additional warehouse space.”

When asked by The Royal Gazette what the BLDC had planned for the area, Mr. Calderon said he could not comment.