Cancer-stricken CRL neighbour struggling to sell Auckland restaurant for third of purchase price

Thursday, 4 April 2019

City Rail Link construction is affecting businesses on central Auckland's Albert St (video first published April 2019).

Kingna Yu faces losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to get rid of her business so she can focus on cancer treatment.

Her tale of desperation is shared by many struggling to make a living alongside a giant City Rail Link trench cut through the heart of Albert St in central Auckland.

A group of battling business owners want City Rail Link Limited (CRLL) to compensate them, but the company is batting away those requests, instead suggesting the businesses seek legal advice.

Business was good when Yu purchased Rakuten Japanese Cuisine in 2014 for nearly $300,000.

Rakuten Japanese Cuisine owner Kingna Yu has seen her business struggle alongside ongoing CRL works on Albert St.

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Yu says she is willing to sell the restaurant for far less than the purchase price.

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'The business went quite well – really stable for the first three years,' she said.

Finding buyers has been a challenge - 'it's really, really hard because of the roadworks', Yu says.

But by the end of 2017, business was down. Yu decided to continue with the hope 2018 would be a better year.

The business continued to struggle post-Christmas 2017. Then, in September 2018, Yu was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She underwent surgery the following month and, with critical business matters to deal with, was yet to decide on reconstruction surgery.

'After that [diagnosis] I decided to sell the business, but it's really, really hard because of the roadworks,' she said.

To date, attempts to sell Rakuten Japanese Cuisine for about a third of the purchase price had failed.

'I feel really exhausted,' Yu said, adding she had finished chemotherapy and was due for a check-up at the end of May.

She was adamant her business would not survive until the end of 2020, when CRLL says its delayed Albert St works will be completed.

On top of her diagnosis, Yu also faced mounting debt – owing a substantial amount to her landlord, who she said was already being tolerant.

'Hopefully I can sell this business … for me to walk away from the whole situation because of my health condition,' she said.

'I've told them as long as I sell the business [I can pay the money owed]. That's my responsibility to them.'

CRLL chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney has said the company took numerous measures to manage the impacts of the CRL works on businesses.

'While CRLL has a responsibility to be prudent with taxpayers' money, the plan makes clear that businesses are able to seek their own independent advice regarding any compensation rights that may be available to them under the Public Works Act if they consider that their businesses have suffered negative financial impact as a result of the project,' he said.

'The act says that if a land owner would have a right of action under common law, the local authority must compensate the person to the extent warranted by the adverse effects and CRLL would meet its obligations under this act.

'To date, no compensation has been paid to any business.'

But Yu said CRLL and Auckland Council needed to take more responsibility for the disruption caused by CRL works on Albert St.

No one associated with CRL, Auckland Council, or AT had visited her, she said.

'We are already struggling with our living costs, how can we afford to pay the legal [costs]?' she asked.

'The big project shouldn't have excuses saying: 'oh, it's going to benefit all Aucklanders'.

'We are the people who are suffering from the process – they can do better.'