- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
The fencing has been returned to the rental company, and the construction site of Georgian Landing is wide open.
Approvals began in May 2018 on the 41 unit “luxury living” building across from the Inn on the Bay between 2nd and 3rd Ave E.
By fall 2019, progress on the pre-fabricated building had stalled. That November, Owen Sound city council approved a second extension of a develpment charges holiday for the property, givinf the owner "until Oct. 31, 2020, to have the building ready for occupancy in order to receive a refund of the $141,500 he has paid in development fees", according to a Sun Times article. At the time, property owner Giorgio Heidary cited a “significant labour shortage” in the construction industry as the reason for the delay, when speaking to the Sun Times reporter.
In July 2020, in response to our enquiries, Mr. Heidary said “our construction loan is approved condition upon reorganization of some mortgage/funding on the property. We are in the process of clearing the conditions that may still take a little time.”
In February 2021, Mr. Heidary said that “due to additional risk due COVID-19, we needed to proof additional funds to reach a 65% LTV (loan to value)”. He continued, “Now, we are in a much stronger position to secure the needed construction funding, start again & complete the project ASAP.”
August 2021, “Our construction funding should be confirmed this month and start the work soon thereafter.”
November 2021, “We have our funding approval confirmed and they're in the process of internally allocating the funds to be transfered to our construction account... a good guess is in about 2 weeks time or sooner.”
May 4, 2022, we wrote to Mr. Heidary: “As we are now in an election year and current members of council are running on "growth" we are following up on the completed, incomplete and promised projects in the City of Owen Sound.”
No reply.
Later that month, in response to a question about the apparently abandoned site from a phone-in caller on CFOS, mayor Ian Boddy said "The City has no authority or ability to confirm that a developer has the resources to complete a project."
April 5, 2023, we wrote to Mr. Heidary: “We are writing a series of articles on property standards in Owen Sound and what the options are for citizens and elected officials who see the impact - environmental, aesthetic and economic - of deteriorating infrastructure in our community. If you have anything to add to such a series, we would be happy to include it.”
No reply.
We tried once more this week when we saw that the fencing was down, each time copying Richard Patton, the man whose phone number appears on the “Luxury Rental Suites Coming Fall 2019” sign that lies at the foot of an unfinished wall.
No reply.
