{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='City historian leasing retail space to private business' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54be27d8eafeecae1397de' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54be27d8eafeecae1397de' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nCity historian leasing retail space to private business\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eMama Ines in Havana seems to be just the latest in a long line of private restaurants that have opened in Havana as part of President Raul Castro's fledgling free-market reforms. But a tiny sign on the facade, easily overlooked, tells...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eMama Ines in Havana seems to be just the latest in a long line of private restaurants that have opened in Havana as part of President Raul Castro's fledgling free-market reforms. \u003cbr/\u003eBut a tiny sign on the facade, easily overlooked, tells the tale: \"Tenant of the Historian's Office.\"\u003cbr/\u003eUntil now, nearly all independent restaurateurs have been operating out of their own homes, restricting their access to good locations and forcing them to cannibalise their private living space.  \u003cbr/\u003eBut a quiet revolution has been taking place.\u003cbr/\u003eHavana City Historian Eusebio Leal, who is in charge of Havana's colonial centre, has begun leasing retail space to businesses.\u003cbr/\u003eMama Ines and a handful of other private small businesses have benefitted, among them a beauty salon, a massage parlour, and a plant shop specialising in bonsai. \u003cbr/\u003eFor the entrepreneurs, it's a chance to tap into the hard-currency economy of the thriving tourism district.\u003cbr/\u003eIt's also potentially a daring pilot programme that, if expanded and rolled out on a larger scale, could give entrepreneurs a leg up, create a new revenue stream for the cash-strapped government and upend five decades of Marxist dogma about the use of state-owned property.\u003cbr/\u003eWith zero fanfare, Leal's office has leased a handful of storefronts in renewable 5- to 10-year deals, with a three-month grace period to recoup investment.\u003cbr/\u003eFor up to a year, investments can be discounted from the rent.\u003cbr/\u003eThe project would seem to fly in the face of five decades of Communist ideals that have reigned in Cuba since the 1959 revolution, after which nearly all private businesses and retail space passed into state hands. \u003cbr/\u003eWhat were an estimated 60-thousand retail outlets island-wide at the time of the revolution hit a low of just 4-thousand in 1993.\u003cbr/\u003eThat number has since crept back up and today is just under 10-thousand.\u003cbr/\u003eDuring 50 years when you couldn't rent space for your own business, the regulating forces of supply and demand disappeared entirely, and it's hard to say with any certainty how much real estate here is actually worth.\u003cbr/\u003eRe-establishing a price equilibrium will likely take time, and plenty of trial-and-error. \u003cbr/\u003eDetails are scarce as is public awareness of the program, which is still so much in its infancy that none of Leal's tenants have even signed a contract yet. \u003cbr/\u003eRents will vary depending on location and type of property, from 1 to 12 US Dollars per square foot (0.3 square metre) per year.\u003cbr/\u003eOwner of Mama Ines, Tomas Erasmo Hernandez is optimistic that his 40-seat restaurant, which he occupied in April after the Historian's Office finished restoring the building, will be able to make the estimated 700 US Dollars in monthly rent once the tourism high season kicks in. \u003cbr/\u003e\"The rent of this space is well below what it would cost anywhere else in the world,\" he said.\u003cbr/\u003eAnother rented space is a plant shop, with offerings from humble African violets up to an exotic, flowering Adenium bonsai.\u003cbr/\u003eOwner Evelio Perez, who named his plant shop \"Oasis Nelba\" after his mother, thinks the initiative is a good thing. \u003cbr/\u003eThe state has been renting out stall space in vacant lots to people selling handicrafts, clothing and trinkets for a while, and a longtime artisans' market in an Old Havana port warehouse is a must-visit on any tourist's itinerary. \u003cbr/\u003eCuban media reports also say retail rentals have recently begun elsewhere in Havana and in cities like Pinar del Rio and the beach resort of Varadero.\u003cbr/\u003eHowever most appear to be shared spaces for small-time outfits like jewelers, cobblers, barbers and watch repairmen trading in the weaker national peso.\u003cbr/\u003eLeal's initiative is the first to directly offer entrepreneurs prime, indoor real estate where they can set up long-term and truly stand to make a good living.\u003cbr/\u003eFive are up and running already, with four more at the restoration stage.\u003cbr/\u003e1. Zoom in on exterior \"Mama Ines\" restaurant to sign, reading: (Spanish) \"Tenant of the Historian's Office\"\u003cbr/\u003e2. Close of the sign\u003cbr/\u003e3. Wide interior of Mama Ines Restaurant\u003cbr/\u003e4. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Tomas Erasmo Hernandez, Restaurant Owner:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I prefer to rent from the state, the state rents more space. It's more comfortable, you don't lose your privacy.\"\u003cbr/\u003e5. Zoom in on cook slicing potatoes\u003cbr/\u003e6. Wide of Mama Ines kitchen and Hernandez\u003cbr/\u003e7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Tomas Erasmo Hernandez, Restaurant Owner:\u003cbr/\u003e\"The rent of this space is well below what it would cost anywhere else in the world. Anywhere else in the world for a space like this you would have to pay 2 or 3-thousand dollars, and here what we're paying is 700 or 600 US Dollars.\"\u003cbr/\u003e8. Mid interior of Mama Ines, barman working\u003cbr/\u003e9. Zoom out of photo of Hernandez with Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, signed by Castro\u003cbr/\u003e10. Wide exterior of plant shop with state tenant sign\u003cbr/\u003e11. Mid of the sign\u003cbr/\u003e12. Wide of plant shop sign, reading: \"Oasis Nelba\"\u003cbr/\u003e13. Mid of Evelio Perez arranging plants\u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Evelio Perez, Plant Shop Owner:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think it's a good thing to give incentives. The state's policy should really be helping small businesses. This will prove that people are capable of doing quality things.\"\u003cbr/\u003e15. Zoom in Perez tending to plants\u003cbr/\u003e16. Wide high view of the plant shop\u003cbr/\u003e17. 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