Posted Nov 4, 2022, 11:19 AM
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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.
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