The City of Cambridge says it has made the difficult decision to end the Fashion History Museum’s (FHM) lease at 74 Queen Street East, effectively closing the museum which is inside the old Hespeler Post Office.
In a press release issued late Friday, the city says the closure is due to significant unpaid rent totalling around $140,000, since June 2023, costs which would transfer to the taxpayer.
The FHM operates out of the main floor level in a commercial lease agreement, however, the museum curators live on-site in a second-floor apartment suite and have not provided payment for the space, as agreed to in their lease.
The city is not in a position to provide an apartment suite to the FHM for its staff or others to live in rent free, the city says.
The decision to end the lease agreement follows an extensive process of engagement and negotiation since 2023 and multiple attempts to resolve the situation "in a fair and amicable manner."
Ending a lease is always a last resort and options were provided to the FHM, the city says in the release. Those options included: reduced rent payments, partial payment forgiveness, and a repayment plan.
The city says it acknowledges the contributions that arts and culture organizations make to our community but feel it would be unjust to continue to accumulate arrears and undue expenses to the community.
"While we understand that this news will be disappointing to some, we want to assure the community that the city continues to invest in arts and culture," the release says.
"The funding process is competitive, the demand is high, and we must balance the needs of many groups and organizations with the financial realities of the city’s budget. While we regret that a resolution could not be met, we will turn our attention to how to best utilize the space in the future."
The news comes almost two years after FHM founders Kenn Norman and Jonathan Walford appealed to the city after the annual grant it requested to cover rent and utilities didn't come through.
More to come