SHOP owners at the Elizabeth East Shopping Centre believe they are being ignored by their landlord, who has plans to turn the site into a service station.

X-Convenience petrol station operator Andrash has an approved development application to build a service station at the Midway Road site.

The plan, approved in 2018, will see the existing shops demolished and a service station and retail tenancies built in its place.

A petition with more than 200 signatures was taken to Playford Council to oppose the development, but was unsuccessful.

Now, tenants have accused Andrash of neglecting the shopping centre in an attempt to drive them out before the redevelopment begins.

Foodworks supermarket owner Matthew Stamoulis said Andrash is trying to force him out of the shopping centre where his family has traded for 30 years.

“They were told about all these things which were unsafe and needed fixing, but not one thing has been done,” he said.

“All the broken shops have been broken into through the back doors. We reported it last year, but they won’t fix them so they’re all still smashed open.

“They’ve boarded up the front of the shops. It just looks like a warzone.

“We hear from people all the time who say they want to move in, so we give them the (Andrash’s) number and they just get knocked back. They intentionally don’t want anyone there.”

The shopping centre was home to 11 separate tenants, but that has been reduced to three as businesses finish their leases and move out.

According to Mr Stamoulis, he was told Foodworks would not have a shop on the new site, while the other two remaining traders would.

Playford councillor Akram Arifi said Andrash is ignoring a range of safety and hygiene problems at the site.

“These works are the responsibility of the landlord and council has made numerous attempts to contact the landlord over a period of time to address these matters, but they have failed to respond,” he said.

“It’s extremely disappointing to see X-Convenience (Andrash) ignore the request of its tenants who desperately need help and need the landlord to invest some money into the centre.

“If they can afford to open new service stations across Adelaide they can afford to invest in this site.”

“The local small business tenants and the community deserve better.”

An Andrash spokesperson confirmed the company owned the site, but said it had outsourced repairs to a property manager and declined to make further comment.