Businesses on the ground floor of the Pelissier Street parking garage have had their plea for help turned down.
Business owners went to city council Monday night asking to have until the end of the year to vacate the building, but council ultimately settled on a 30 day extension past the original May 31 deadline.
Youssef Gereige owns Youssef Hair Boutique and says he may be forced to leave downtown.
"I'm going to try not to, but the way they're doing it, they're making me go out of downtown after 27 years. So it's hard. We don't have a place to go. Pretty well, they're putting us on the street. I don't know what we're going to do from now until the end of the month. It's not like I could renovate a place in 30 days. It's going to be hard."
Windsor Pride Community Centre is located on the bottom floor and Executive Director Bob Williams says he doesn't understand why there's a rush.
"They haven't even got a contractor in place. What the heck is that about? We are dealing with the Salvation Army, with the St. Vincent de Paul, with the Mission downtown that tend to use the centre as a safe and positive space. We need our councillors to get behind us."
Youssef Gereige of Youssef Hair Boutique and Bob Williams of the Windsor Pride Community Centre (Photo by AM800's Rob Hindi)
Downtown Windsor BIA Chair Larry Horwitz says he's questioning the motives of council.
"It baffles me to watch the politics that go on here to businesses that are working hard and they've put all of their sweat and their time and their energy into being downtown and to serving the people and now to be thrown out of downtown?"
Horwitz says he's disappointed in his council.
"These two businesses ask for a six month extension so that they don't have to do it immediately and close themselves down before they even have a chance to breathe. It just makes absolutely no sense. They wanted a six month extension to get their plan together, to get organized. It's stupid and it makes me angry."
Business now have until the end of June to leave the property.
In November of last year, after a lengthy debate, council voted to convert the retail space on the ground floor of the garage to more parking spots.
And this past March, a proposal from a group of local business people to purchase the parking structure was rejected.
- with files from Rob Hindi