SkyCity Centre Winnipeg | 45F | 575 Ft | 175.26 M | Cancelled

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by drew

I am an engineer - and I am smrter than the whole lot of you!

But then a few of my friends who tried and quit just about every type of career before finally giving up and applying to be cops - they now earn comfortably more than me. Complete with pension.

Ridiculous.

Not to disparage the fine work cops and firefighters do but their salary and gold plated pensions defy logic in a market like Winnipeg. The whole notion that they should be paid the same as in other jurisdictions like Vancouver and Calgary is ridiculous.

What were once blue collar jobs (police and firefighters) with pay on par with tradesman has now escalated to the point where they now make more than teachers, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, and 🞵🞵🞵🞵 load of other careers that require more than a humanities degree.

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by esquire

That's all well and good, but that's a far cry from the comment that initially launched us on this tangent:



What constitutes "quite easy" is obviously a relative concept, but I doubt many people would consider the ingredients that go into becoming an above-average earning engineer as a "quite easy" career path.

Perhaps "quite easy" isn't what you tell the general populace, but it is what I tell my children or friends.

Other comparables: Getting strong and fit is easy. Just eat right, do some research, pick the right exercises or training strategy, and don't stop. Quitters will come up up with a myriad of reasons to defy that strategy, but that's really all there's to it. Or having a nice yard. take care of it, give it nutrients, get in the dirt and plant some nice 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

Or marriage... I once heard "Marriage is easy, you just have to work on it all the time. Put in work, and IT works". Obvious caveats being the spouse could be a psychopath. Basically, what stops any of these things is us simply caving into our "I don't wanna..." reflexes.

Whether engineering, fitness, landscaping or marriage, the formula is easy. Some of the tasks are labourious, but not necessarily difficult when pursued regularly. Maybe I'm being annoying on this, I'm just a " do some work, get it done" type on these matters.

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

I decided today, after finding the project's account on Instagram, to inquire on this project and if it'll truly happen. Keep in mind, I'm an optimist....even with how this thread has meandered. These are two photos off my phone from the little conversation I had with a PR person or whoever manages the account of this project. I'm not going to try and say anything with bias about the following photos.....

This account is purely marketing for this project by the way, and I have found no comment like mine about the credibility of this project. All other comments are simple, fairly inane, or just something like a fire symbol or a quip of phrase.

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵, lol. That's some condescending 🞵🞵🞵🞵 from SkyCity.

"... the concept is new to Winnipeg..."

stfu, 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵, the reason this hasn't been done here in years is economical, not that we were too stupid to know what a skyscraper is.

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Not to disparage the fine work cops and firefighters do but their salary and gold plated pensions defy logic in a market like Winnipeg. The whole notion that they should be paid the same as in other jurisdictions like Vancouver and Calgary is ridiculous.

What were once blue collar jobs (police and firefighters) with pay on par with tradesman has now escalated to the point where they now make more than teachers, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, and 🞵🞵🞵🞵 load of other careers that require more than a humanities degree.

Want to know some true feelings about cops and firefighters?

Ask a paramedic, haha! They'll give you an earful!

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

Want to know some true feelings about cops and firefighters?

Ask a paramedic, haha! They'll give you an earful!

Haha no kidding. But it is firefighters alone that have to complete a minimum of 100 hours of arrogance training.

[GeneralLea]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Bear in mind that many of the pessimists were optimists for years (myself included), but years of inaction tend to make anyone not on the developer's payroll more than a little skeptical...

They could prove all the doubters wrong by actually starting construction. Not just digging a pit, but building something.

I'm quite aware, I've followed this thread quite fruvolently in interest of this project. I just simplified my wording for this PR person or whatever role they have.

[Wolf13]

Also keep in mind that they're from ONT.

In Toronto, it can take over two years just to START construction, so they may not see their "delays" as off pace. Or if they have no intention to build, they might be surprised why people are so upset so soon.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

In Toronto, it can take over two years just to START construction, so they may not see their "delays" as off pace.

SkyCity was announced Sep 6, 2013. Over four years ago.

There are other little details that don't help. Like:

CBC: Investors in SkyCity Centre development owed interest as bonds default.

"That's very serious,'" said Al Rosen, accountant with Accountability Research Corporation in Toronto. "This is the indication that they're not earning enough cash to pay the interest." 

Or Fortress missing the deadline to get $14.5 million worth of city-provincial tax rebates - while telling the city that the project wasn't viable without them. (They now have an agreement with the city to get just $6.5 million, now over 10 years rather than as a lump sum on completion.)

Or the $3 million the court made the Fortress owners pay to "investor victims" of their previous company. With bonus mention of another venture that ended that way.

[DLLB]

Originally Posted by Roger Strong

SkyCity was announced Sep 6, 2013. Over four years ago.

There are other little details that don't help. Like:

CBC: Investors in SkyCity Centre development owed interest as bonds default.



Or Fortress missing the deadline to get $14.5 million worth of city-provincial tax rebates - while telling the city that the project wasn't viable without them. (They now have an agreement with the city to get just $6.5 million, now over 10 years rather than as a lump sum on completion.)

Or the $3 million the court made the Fortress owners pay to "investor victims" of their previous company. With bonus mention of another venture that ended that way.

What a surprise! NOT!

[Pi3141592654]

This came out today:
https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1DU1YP-OCATP

[Finessing]

http://business.financialpost.com/news/f...d-warnings-on-risky-mortgage-investments

In the past decade, more than 20,000 retail investors have put as much as $1.5 billion into syndicated mortgages, mostly in Ontario, according to regulatory sources. Roughly 90 per cent of those investments, the sources said, have ended in a loss or are at risk of doing so, and Fortress projects make up more than half of the investments.

In at least 10 of those cases, FSCO staff found possible breaches of Ontario law that they felt warranted action. The breaches included misleading marketing, selling products unsuited to clients’ risk tolerance, and failure to disclose the risks and costs of the investments, among other infractions.

Documents seen by Reuters show that in 2013, FSCO staff opened an investigation after the federal tax collector, the Canada Revenue Agency, sent information it said suggested that Fortress syndicated mortgages were, in effect, a Ponzi scheme.

Documents seen by Reuters also show that Canada’s federal police launched an investigation into Fortress’s syndicated mortgage business in October 2016. Six people told Reuters they had been interviewed as part of the inquiry, led by the Integrated Market Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by Finessing

http://business.financialpost.com/news/f...d-warnings-on-risky-mortgage-investments

Thanks for sharing. How does anyone take the Fortress clowns serious?

[bomberjet]

At least we don't have a hole in the ground. Yet.

[esquire]

^ LOL

Delete this thread.

[Riverman]

I think that there are people on this forum that have paid deposits on condos in this project. They need this thread.

[Pi3141592654]

Originally Posted by Riverman

I think that there are people on this forum that have paid deposits on condos in this project. They need this thread.

Go back and look at when this thing started with LiveWorkPlay.

http://www.baystreet.ca/articles/research_reports/fundamental_research/Liveworkplay-Dec-2013.pdf

Smelled of $hit then.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

At least we don't have a hole in the ground. Yet.

Other then metaphorically, if one is an investor.

[bomberjet]

^true.

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by Roger Strong

SkyCity was announced Sep 6, 2013. Over four years ago.

There are other little details that don't help. Like:

CBC: Investors in SkyCity Centre development owed interest as bonds default.



Or Fortress missing the deadline to get $14.5 million worth of city-provincial tax rebates - while telling the city that the project wasn't viable without them. (They now have an agreement with the city to get just $6.5 million, now over 10 years rather than as a lump sum on completion.)

Or the $3 million the court made the Fortress owners pay to "investor victims" of their previous company. With bonus mention of another venture that ended that way.

I could have very well said 4 years instead of two. Not uncommon.

Nonetheless, acquiring land and announcing isn't the same as going through the process to get the entitlements, rezoning, and grants necessary that constitute actually "working" on the project.

I'm not justifying them in the slightest, merely saying for these reasons, they might be surprised by our impatience. I personally wouldn't trust them with Harvey Weinstein, never mind my dollar.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

Nonetheless, acquiring land and announcing isn't the same as going through the process to get the entitlements, rezoning, and grants necessary that constitute actually "working" on the project.

Except that they had the entitlements, rezoning, and grants long ago. Long enough to miss the deadlines on those grants.

Heck, the construction permit expired a year ago, and that was after the city extended it for six months. Even when that happened they were claiming a spring 2017 construction start.

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by Roger Strong

Except that they had the entitlements, rezoning, and grants long ago. Long enough to miss the deadlines on those grants.

Heck, the construction permit expired a year ago, and that was after the city extended it for six months. Even when that happened they were claiming a spring 2017 construction start.

Again, I completely agree. I was only stating why THEY might be surprised by our anglry, public reaction because they operate in a different market where things take longer. Not saying they a) aren't 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 at developing, or b) sketchy people, potentially criminals.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by Pi3141592654

This came out today:
https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1DU1YP-OCATP

The CBC and others have been repeating this story. Smaller news sites within the industry are adding their own spin. But they have a common thread: The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) hasn't been doing its job. It saw illegal activity and did nothing. It was warned by the Canada Revenue Agency told FSCO that Fortress syndicated mortgages were in effect a Ponzi scheme, and did nothing. Even their own compliance officer called the investments "Ponzi like in nature."

So now the FSCO is feeling the heat. They'll have to do something.

If you're an investor, you may as well put on a dinner jacket and have a brandy as the ship goes down.