How do you take an 100 year old school and convert it into a magnificent Condominium Development?
In 2003 Thomas Gillbard, Middle school, was put up for sale by the Kawartha Pineridge School Board and 1573454 Ontario Ltd realized that being in the heart of heritage downtown Cobourg, this architectural gem could be converted into Condominiums. At the time, the school consisted of two floors of classrooms and a few more in the partial basement area together with a large gymnasium and an auditorium.
From the start, problems arose. A former Mayor of Cobourg Gilbert Brocanier, who was a councilor at the time, started a “Save the Gillbard School” campaign which attracted a large following being a amazing heritage property steps from the downtown, the harbour and the beach. There were many protesters.
The intent of this committee was to save it from the hands of “nasty” developers and convert it into a community centre if it could be purchased by the Town of Cobourg. At the time the Town did not have the funds to purchase the school; nor the millions of dollars to update it for the proposed usage.
1573454 Ontario Ltd, being part of a long standing Heritage Developer Group, prevailed and purchased the property in April 2004 and planning of the revised building moved into high gear immediately. J.E. Doubt and Associates, a renowned and prominent term Architect and Engineer, was retained and Mr. Doubt and his team designed and enlarged the building for 71 condominium Units. 1573454 worked hand in hand with Mr. Doubt evolved plans for what was to be Mansions on George (MOG). The very name said it all. MOG was and still is the most prestigious and luxurious condominiums in Cobourg with completely new facilities both inside and outside.
When the original school building was constructed in 1906 it had apartments on the top floor for the principal and possibly servants. A subsequent fire a few years later resulted in the top floor being removed and a flat roof installed.
Mr. Doubt and 1573454 decided to rebuild the fourth floor as common areas and condominiums and demolish the gymnasium and excavate under the existing structure to create the ground floor condominiums and install facilities for the complex. So effectively we created one new ground floor and a Fourth Floor in keeping with the original 1906 design.
This became a huge undertaking and 1573454 was told by many naysayers in the Town that this could not be done However, an associated company of 1573454 had already purchased and converted the former Cobourg Jail into a restaurant, hotel and museum very successfully. That hotel still exists today, and preparations are underway to build new condominiums in and around the historic building at 77 Albert street on Cobourg Harbour/Beach in 2026.
The Cobourg Jail/King George Inn is a very unique property.
The Group have now saved and restored 2 of the 4 largest heritage buildings in Cobourg.
In any event, despite the doubters 1573454 proceeded with demolition in 2004 to establish how this 1906 building was originally built and supported. There were no Architectural/Engineering plans from 1906! Massive wooden beams were removed and replaced with new steel girders, old windows replaced, all flooring removed to the joists. Needless to say, the entire building was gutted, rewired, replumbed, with all the facilities required for a modern condominium complex. 1573454 demolished everything apart from the exterior shell and the floor joists and preserved the Heritage exterior as agreed with the Town of Cobourg.
The basement was excavated and turned into a ground floor, the existing roof was removed and replaced with steel girders, etc. to create a fourth floor. All exterior brickwork was cleaned and tinted brick by brick to match.
The gymnasium was demolished and replaced with a new structure to house two elevators, north and south foyer entrances, mailboxes, and a garbage room, utility rooms, Lockers, etc. All the electrical, water and sanitary services coming into the building for both phases were installed there. New Transformers were installed inside and out, and all services were taken to the west side of this new building ready for connection to the extension. This extension, because of the actions of NSCC72 and, in particular Chairman Gratton and the Board, has yet to happen. 1573454 hopes to begin this extension in 2026/7 after the lawsuit is settled in it’s favour.
The NSCC72 lawsuit was started on May 17th, 2017, and was based entirely on a two-year-old performance audit dated early 2015. Performance Audits are to take place within 12 months of Condominium registration under The Ontario Condominium Act.
Condominium owners collectively pay for the Performance Audit and they decided not to proceed in 2012, 2013, and 2014. 1573454 and its principals tried to get the Performance Audit done sooner, but NSCC72 residents resisted until 2015 by which time the Condominium was 4 years old.
A Condominium Performance Audit is intended to focus on important items, like structural issues of the condominium, but the new Board Directors (led by Mr. Tim Miller) of NSCC72 directed Pitchler Engineering Inc. to include any minor things that could be seen. These included the missing elevator license, loose door handles, catch basin debris, uneven patio stones on the rooftop patio, missing caulking around windows, damaged ceiling tiles, missing covers on junction boxes, missing door closure mechanisms, fire breaker panels (for Phase II) not labeled, water damage to ceiling tiles, etc. amongst other things. 99% of these deficiencies did not exist in 2017 when the Lawsuit was filed The Lawsuit simply mirrored the 2.5 year old Performance Audit without verification. It should be noted that the MOG Condominium was finished and registered in 2011, four years before the Performance Audit. Most of the alleged deficiencies were maintenance issues such as caulking around windows, which should be replaced every 5 years. The windows themselves were mainly installed in 2009.
To permit the occupancy of unit 406 the Town of Cobourg mandated 1573454 to install an external fire exit on land which was intended for Phase II of the Phased Condominium. Mr. Gary Gatton bought his unit (#406) on October 16th, 2015, and he became Chairman (and remains) of the Board of NSCC72 in 2016. Relationships then deteriorated very badly with 1573454. It is amazing what one man can do.
As Mansions on George was meant to be one development and the extension was not more than a build-on all the expensive facilities such as elevators and services etc. were installed in the central core where the former gymnasium was.
In any event, the stated intention of the original declaration of NSCC72 in 2011 was that Cost Sharing agreements would be entered into by NSCC72 and the 36 units to be erected in Phase II. This was going to be a benefit for NSCC72 where many of their costs halved would be halved with the near doubling of the condominium units and the roadways,. Foyers, elevators, transformers, garbage rooms, the top floor clubhouse and amenities and the maintenance of the rooftop patio would be equally split between the original 35 units and the additional 36 condos. Items such as snow ploughing and landscaping, roadways etc., amongst others, would be halved by a new Cost Sharing Agreement now with 71 Units.
In the lawsuit Phoenix Genesis Financial Inc. was named as a defendant although it was not created until long after NSCC72 was registered in 2011.
In paragraph 3, of the revised 2017 Claim by NSCC72, PGF. was said to be “The Developer and Builder of the units and common elements of NSCC72”. This is a complete and utter falsehood.
In fact, Mr. Gratton and his advisers made Phoenix Genesis Investments (PGI) the defendant in the lawsuit of 2017 without noticing that PGI had been dissolved 9 years earlier.
When this was discovered by Mr. Gratton and his cohort, they went “defendant shopping” and picked a company with a similar name. Phoenix Genesis Financial Inc. is completely independent from PGI and the MOG development.
PGF was not registered until late 2011 has different shareholders and could not have been involved!
However, never let the facts get in the way of a good lawsuit!
The Town of Cobourg, which is also being sued by NSCC72, cross-claimed against Phoenix Genesis Financial Inc. (PGF) because the Town mirrored, in error, the NSCC72 defendants.
In any event, a phased condominium must be completed within 10 years of registration and Mr. Gary Gratton’s delaying tactics and refusal to sign a Cost Sharing Agreement prevented this from happening.
The NSCC72, amended lawsuit in 2022, has now gone so far as to ask for permanent easements where the emergency staircase still exists on 1573454 Land which is nothing more than a land grab by Mr. Gratton and is cronies.
It gets even murkier as the west wall of the Mansions on George Condominium still, partly, belongs to 1573454. This is the party wall between the first and second phases of the condominium. Unfortunately, that wall cannot help but to have deteriorated somewhat as it was intended to be an interior wall and not open to the elements. 1573454 tried to protect that wall by installing concrete board on the western exterior and hopefully that has mitigated damage.
NSCC72 will however be responsible if damage has indeed occurred because of the delaying tactics preventing 1573454 moving forward with Phase II.
Because of the delays, 1573454 has lost a considerable amount of money. If the units had been built, sold and occupied these units would have sold for $800,000 to $900,000 each; if not more. With the recent decline in house prices (2020-2024) up to $300,000 per unit, has been lost and 1573454 Ontario Ltd. is currently counterclaiming Twelve Million Dollars ($12,000,000) for losses sustained. Early in our discussions with Mr. Gratton regarding his stonewalling we did point out that, if Ontario residential prices declined, NSCC72 would be held accountable Gratton dismissed this problem and it has now come to pass. Gratton is responsible, not the individual Unit owners but they will end up footing the bill.
Gratton, surprisingly, could not grasp the financial advantages for NSCC72. The unit owners are paying higher fees than they would need to if the extension had been built and the Cost Sharing Agreement came into force. If the landscaping was finished with driveway lighting etc. the existing NSCC72 Condos would have benefited from improved aesthetics and an consequent increase in values. Currently, prices at MOG are depressed because of this lawsuit and the poor curb appeal.
Also, unfortunately, the new addition has been stalled for around eight years which has also cost the taxpayers of Cobourg an absolute fortune.
The combined Cobourg residential tax mill rates are 0.0158631 as at 2023. Assuming a valuation of $800,000 per new condominium and a total 36 Unit assessment of, at least $28,800,000, would imply a total property tax of $456,857 in 2023. These taxes are split between Northumberland County, the local School Board and the Town of Cobourg. The Town gets the lion’s share of this which would be $261,837.
Overall, the lawsuit prevented total property taxes of $456,857 and the Town of Cobourg has lost $261,837 annually. Making an assumption that without the lawsuit, the project could have been finished in 2019. This means that 6 years of property taxes so far have been lost to the residents of Cobourg and surrounding areas.
Specifically, the Town of Cobourg taxpayers have lost $2,094,551, assuming that the additional units will not be occupied until 2027 which rises to $2,356,369 if occupancy does not take place until 2028.
This is an atrocious waste of taxpayer money caused by Gratton and his fellow board members making a false claims in 2017 on deficiencies that did not exist, simply lifted verbatim from a Performance Audit done in 2015 when NSCC72 had been in existence for 4 years.
By 2017 any deficiencies would have been 6 years old.
There is no proof that many of these alleged deficiencies existed in 2011, when the condo was registered, nor 2017.
The Lawsuit is nonsense and will likely be dismissed at trial as there is no proof of a causable action.
When filed on May 18th, 2017, the Lawsuit was already Statute Barred (2 years) as the Performance Audit was done in January, February and March of 2015. The Plaintiffs knew, or ought to have known of their claims by March of 2015 at the latest.
That is the law.
All defendants, including the Town, are using this same Defence.
