SkyCity Centre

[Deleted]

This proposed tower is controversial, and the developer that is designing it Fortress, does not have an impressive track record. So once the St.Regis is ton down, will Winnipeg be left with another surface parking lot?

[Ric O.]

I hate to be pessimistic about it because I'd really like to see this thing go up. Having that many (hopefully inhabited) condos can only help the SHED and downtown in general...but the longer it's delayed, the more likely it is to be as you say, a surface parking lot. I think construction was originally supposed to start in 2014, now maybe 2018, interest rates going up, seems like a glut of condos around town, it wouldn't surprise me at all if their website quietly shut down that was that. Maybe they'll have to scale it back to get it done.

[Guardian]

I thought the project was halted due to lack of sales?

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2017 12:32:55 GMT -6 Guardian said:

I thought the project was halted due to lack of sales?

It should have been. Forties has a horrible track record across Canada.

[Ric O.]

Officially I think it's still only delayed, not cancelled. They posted a blog post on their website today so someone is still manning the site:

skycitywinnipeg.ca/blog/

[Ric O.]

Jul 13, 2017 19:38:37 GMT -6 @hannujarvenpaa said:

This proposed tower is controversial, and the developer that is designing it Fortress, does not have an impressive track record. So once the St.Regis is ton down, will Winnipeg be left with another surface parking lot?

Snip from Heritage Winnipeg blog
heritagewinnipeg.blogspot.ca/


"The sale of the St. Regis Hotel has raised many eyebrows for a variety of reasons. It seems counterintuitive to choose Fortress, a company from outside Manitoba, with a long record of projects that fail to even break ground, to be a rejuvenating force in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, the redevelopment of the St. Regis seemed to be following Fortress’ previous pattern of inactivity, with the company missing its April 30, 2017 deadline for starting construction. CentreVenture choose to extend the deadline by a year, asserting that development is complicated and they can always repossess the building if no construction takes place. The city has also stated that they will not allow demolition of the hotel until Fortress can prove that their finances are in order."

[Deleted]

I just received this in Pm from someone who shall remain anonymous:

Speaking of Fortress:
1. This is their failed Harmony Village Sheppard project:
www.rosengoldberg.com/company...?company_id=31

This property was undeveloped for 6 years. Developer went bankrupt. Fortress tried to stall the sale process and couldn't get the financing in place to secure this project like several other projects in the past. If you look closely, the most recent appraisal was $36MM. They would have had to sell the development in excess of $52MM to recover the syndicated mortgage as the project had $20MM for Downing Financial (1st), $1.5MM for JYR (2nd) and $31MM Fortress' syndicated mortgages. This will be their first 'public' loss.

2. This is the other mega flop: Collier Centre in Barrie
www.thebarrieexaminer.com/201...-to-add-condos
This has been ongoing since 2012 and went bankrupt tail end of 2014. Fortress bought the project to save face and have never managed to replace the original tenants slated for this development from Mady Developments who was the original developer of SkyCity. Because of the extensive delays, the Sobeys and Barriston Law tenants that were slated for this development bailed (who provided the bulk of the value in the development - like $45MM of the $70MM valuation at the time, balance being the residential component which started occupancy a couple of months ago). In an attempt to recover the original syndicated mortgage investment of $16.7MM, they sought SVN to sell the unoccupied commercial space and market it as a residential conversion earlier this year. Clearly that effort failed because they're now trying to get the city to make concessions and transforming the office and retail space into residential units.

[Deleted]

Fortress

[USApegger]

I thought fortress brought on some well known partner last year for this?

As for the St Regis, they are not allowed to tear it down without showing the city that they have the financial where with all to build the parkade etc.

The article last week in the Freep said demolition of the St Regis should start in the next couple weeks and that Sky City would start excavation soon as well

I guess we will see.

[Deleted]

I have no doubt Fortress is capable of demolishing the St.Regis. I just cannot see them building anything once all that remains is a trench.

[Deleted]

The Regina equivalent:

Contractors remove equipment from Capital Pointe construction site in Regina




After many delays and questions over construction permits, on Saturday, there was some movement at the Capital Pointe project, but not necessarily constructive ones. About half a dozen semi trailers and workers from Double Star Drilling took away equipment from the delayed construction site on the corner of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue.

Capital Pointe is set to be 27 storeys of condos and hotel rooms, and was once going to be Regina’s tallest building. The project was meant to be completed last year, but to this day, it’s not much more than a hole in the ground. Workers removing equipment Saturday, would not speak to Global News.

globalnews.ca/news/3732374/contractors-remove-equipment-from-capital-pointe-construction-site-in-regina/

-----

Fortress had seven years to build this project, and now it is just a five story pit that is caged off. I hope Winnipeg learns from the mistakes of Regina.

[phillymike]

Hmmmm. I wonder how this project is doing? Much progress?

[Guardian]

SkyCity condo buyers to get their money back, as developer says tower is 'not currently viable' as planned.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/skycity-centre-condo-buyers-money-back-1.4685879

[TheDeuce]

Even worse:

Some investors are questioning whether the tallest building in Winnipeg will ever get off the ground after the RCMP raided the headquarters of the company behind SkyCity Centre last week.

RCMP executed a search warrant at six properties in the Greater Toronto Area, including Fortress Real Developments' headquarters in Richmond Hill, Ont., last Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into syndicated mortgage fraud.



www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/skycity-condos-winnipeg-fortress-raid-1.4619641





It seems that the collective wisdom here at JHF was bang on.




m.