Effort rolled out to restore historic Givral Cafe
04-06-2012
 The former Givral Café located at the corner of Dong Khoi and Le Loi streets is seen in this fi le photo. In April 2010, Vingroup dismantled the old Eden shopping mall, including the Givral coffee shop, to pave the way for its property development project - Photo: Kinh Luan |
Vo Thi Bach Lien, general director of Saigon Givral JSC, told the Daily that the Givral Café had been located at the corner of Dong Khoi and Le Loi streets in the commercial district but cleared to make room for the Vingroup property project.
Now Givral wants to reopen the café at the former location by leasing the same area at the complex at a reasonable price.
General director Lien said she had proposed Vingroup lease the site on the ground floor to it to translate its project into reality.
Givral last week wrote to the city government saying Vingroup had offered a 250 square-meter area on the first floor at an initial rent of US$84 per square meter per month and US$70 later on.
It is meaningless to reinstate the coffee shop on the first floor, Lien said, noting the former location of the café was of great historical significance as it used to be a familiar rendezvous for Saigonese and witness many historic and cultural events in the city after over 60 years of operation.
Rebuilding the café on the first floor will be of no use, she stressed.
Vingroup is said to have agreed on the Givral Café proposal but have asked for a monthly rent of US$210 a square meter, excluding fees and taxes.
