'The cost is all coming back to us': Thousands in levies proposed to reopen beleaguered Saskatoon condo tower
Pigeons, empty cans, bottles and discarded fast-food bags are some of the only signs of life left at the defunct grounds of a 20th Street West condo tower.
On May 6, fences and plywood boards went up to secure the building at 1416 20th St. W., Prairie Heights condominium.
On Wednesday the remains of a homeless camp with multiple tents, blankets and sleeping quarters could be seen in the semi-covered parking lot of the condo.
According to Saskatoon Fire Department, police, social services, as well as Salvation Army and Saweyhitotan Outreach workers helped relocate the people living there on Tuesday.
Norbert Knihnitski owns a unit in the building.
Nearly five months after the condo's closure, Knihnitski said the legal administration Clayton Barry, who was appointed by a Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench judge to start collecting condo fees and bring order to the affairs of the 44-unit condo tower,held a meeting with the remaining condo owners with a plan to re-open the tower.
“What they want us to do is fork up more money to get this building in shape,” Knihnitski said. “They got different quotes, it needs to be exterminated, winterized so the pipes don’t freeze, but the cost is all coming back to us.”
Before the highrise was shut down, the fire department closed 16 suites and secured another 13 units because of unauthorized access. The department also invoiced the condo $58,000 for “necessary, life-safety repairs completed by various contractors hired by the city of Saskatoon.”
Knihnitski said Barry called a meeting with condo owners on Sept. 15 proposing special levies to be paid for by condo owners to help pay for the outstanding bills and remediations expenses to get the condo tower back open. According to a presentation made to the condo owners Barry is proposing a special levy of $4,966.80 for one-bedroom suite condo owners who are not in arrears. That levy jumps to $8,486.32 for one-bedroom suite owners who are in arrears.
Barry told CTV News among the issues needing attention in the tower is a cockroach infestation, repairs to the fire suppression system, fixing the elevator and cleaning up biohazard and human waste.
"There are also condo owners who haven’t been paying their condo fees so we don’t have that money that’s available and that results in the levy that’s being proposed being higher," Barry said.
Knihnitski said he’s not paying those levies.
But before anything, Barry has called on condo owners to gear up head to toe in personal protective equipment to clean up the garbage and debris collecting at the condo, which is largely the result of the homeless camp set up in the parking area.
“For no fault of ours we got kicked out and now they expect us to clean this up and I told them I’m not coming on Saturday, I didn’t do nothing, I didn’t defecate or urinate in the hallways, we’re the victims here we didn’t cause this,” Knihitski said.
Two condo owners told CTV News if condo fees and special levies aren’t collected by Oct. 15, the building will be put up for sale.
Knihnitski said selling the tower is the best course of action.
“The best thing to do is sell it. Oct. 15 is the deadline to put it up for sale,” he said. “We get what we get, which I know I’m going to walk away with nothing.”
Since the condo closed, Knihnitski said he lived with his mother and is now renting a room with his son. He says he’s still paying mortgage and taxes on his unit at Prairie Heights, but he’s stopped paying condo fees since the building was shut down.
"There’s something wrong with this picture, they’re worried about homeless people and others to have a place to live, but what did you do to us?"
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberals must now sell a budget they say will help younger Canadians catch up
It's now up to the federal Liberal government to sell a spending plan it says will help younger Canadians catch up to their elders.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise and it turned into a rocking kitchen party
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Ontario woman out $30K after investing in mortgage company accused of being unlicensed
An Ontario nurse is fighting to recover tens of thousands of dollars in savings she invested in a mortgage company that has since been accused of operating without a licence.
Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against Murdoch's Sun tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Peel police to provide update today on arrests in Pearson gold heist
More details are expected this morning on arrests that have been made in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport one year ago, Peel Regional Police say.
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
Stretching isn't always the answer for pain and muscle tension
For years, conventional wisdom in fitness culture has promoted the belief that stretching to become more flexible leads to better movement and injury prevention.