I imagine whoever picks this one up will just continue from where the last one left off and keep it the exact same. The structure has been designed already for that height. I doubt they would demolish and start over, and I also doubt they would make modifications to the existing structure. Costs would be too high.

Let's hope this one has a happy ending.

Failed Jamesville Lofts sold to Stoney Creek construction company
(Hamilton Spectator, Sebastian Bron, Nov 4 2022)

A failed downtown Hamilton condo development finally has a new owner — nearly a year after its previous developer went bankrupt.

But the future of the so-called Jamesville Lofts — touted as a sleek, six-storey building when it was presented to investors in the fall of 2017 — remains in the balance after an Ontario court ruled last month to terminate all of the sale contracts for previously purchased units.

Newly released court documents reveal Marbelle Estates Inc., a local construction and environmental services provider, has emerged as the winner of a months-long bidding war to take hold of the attractive parcel of land at 15 Cannon St. W.

It comes almost 11 months after the scantily built building’s previous builder, Areacor Inc., was placed in receivership owning about $9.9 million to more than two-dozen creditors.

According to documents contained in an approval and vesting order Oct. 3, Marbelle will assume all of Areacor’s assets and some of its mortgage debts as part of the sale, the price of which is sealed under a court order. Marbelle did not respond to requests for comments.

It is unclear what the Stoney Creek-based company plans to do with the long-stalled project.

Scuttled by repeated cost overruns and loan rejections, Areacor — who broke ground on the building in August 2019 with the goal of finishing construction that fall — left the property as a skeleton structure with serious foundational concerns, according to court records.

While Areacor entered into agreements of purchase and sale for 29 of the 40 residential units it planned to build, those were nulled as part of the sale agreement with Marbelle.

That means more financial uncertainty for investors who deposited thousands of dollars into the project.

“At this point it’s just a matter of ‘wait and see’ for getting our money back,” said Nathan George, who deposited around $80,000 for a unit in 2017.

A letter sent to investors last month by receiver RSM Canada Limited states a “deposit refund protocol” has been established with Aviva Insurance. The letter makes no mention of whether deposits will be returned in full or in part. It does, however, say that Aviva will request that deposits be provided by Areacor’s lawyers, Harris Sheaffer LLP.

Aviva did not respond when asked when the refund process will begin.

Previous bankruptcy records showed 26 buyers deposited more than $2 million into Areacor’s project of which more than $1.7 million was “released to (Areacor) for use with respect to the development.” The rest, around $376,000, was held in trust by Harris Sheaffer, according to the records.

I wonder if Marbelle Group plan to tear down the existing structure?
Marbelle does civil construction and demolition, according to their website, and the structure was reported to have issues with it being out of plumb. It may HAVE TO come down.

Yeah it would be dangerous to use the existing material, esp since it' been sitting there exposed for so long - liability issues alone would prevent that, considering someone else put them up and there are already existing issues.

They would probably make some money on this if they take the structure down and sell the lot.

I don't see this company building condos or another kind of building themselves, unless they're trying to get into that line of business.

Construction companies in the GTA have been getting in the habit of entering development as of late...

I would imagine if they go through the effort of removing the built structure, there is somebody ready to pick it up and build.

Esp. if they took on part of their debt..

Inside scoop. The new owner plans to complete the structure.

Interesting. It was my understanding that this wouldn't be financially feasible, especially considering the structural issues that have been mentioned. Do you know timelines? It's currently a massive eyesore on Cannon.

Not sure I'd wanna live there knowing what lurks inside the building...

I’m no engineer… but isn’t concrete and steel just concrete and steel? It’s not ideal to leave exposed but it’s not like it’s a wood frame. I suppose it’s cheaper to de-rust/remediate the materials rather than tear it all down.

my understanding is that concrete and steel left to the elements would eventually degrade, but we are talking about a time scale of decades, not years. The structure, provided it wasn't incorrectly built, should be fine.

Good!

The longer it sits in limbo, the worse it will stick out.

The problem is its a liability issue - if there ever IS problems with the frame down the line they inherit that liability - easier to tear down and rebuild -least then you know what you inherited is just the land and you built it yourself.. at least that's how I'd see it - but I've seen some pretty shady stuff in construction - the only issue here is there's no way to cover up - everyone knows what's happening here.

Pay for a throrough inspection and repair anything that has actually deteriorated, and that should be fine.

My biggest concern would be in the precast had "weep holes" - holes drilled in each cores so any water that enters can escape. If this doesn't happen in can freeze and cause "blowouts". Which can be repairable on an active site but id the strands are exposed for a couple years you wouldn't be able to tell the extents of the corrosion on them.

Steel will be fine, a little surface rust never hurt anyone. 90% of steel never gets a coating and the rusty surface gets clad and never seen again.

I'm 90% sure I saw from my office that there are people on site here doing work with a crane.

Will try to get a photo when I'm back at my desk.

Definitely being worked on. I suppose this can move back to U/C

https://i.imgur.com/1kSsE94h.jpeg

Now the question is if they are working to complete it or working to demolish it..

edit:

Building permit has this to say:

It appears they seem to be proceeding to complete the project!

Based on what I could see, it looked like they were hoisting things into place and completing the concrete stairwell core for the building. So that seems to confirm the permit, or vice versa.

Jamesville Lofts | 11-15 Cannon St. West | ? | 6 fl | Cancelled -> Jamesville Lofts | 11-15 Cannon St. West | ? | 6 fl | Under Construction



They'll probably re-brand this project, but for now it's Jamesville Lofts.