MONTREAL – Billed as a “private haven in the big city” promising “exclusivity redefined,” the luxury waterfront condo probably seemed ideal to future Supreme Court of __canada Justice Clément Gascon.
But his and his wife’s 2012 purchase soon became a nightmare. In 2014, a provincial inquiry into corruption in the construction industry exposed the real-estate project’s connections to organized crime. Media reported on the rogues’ gallery of underworld figures who called the building home. And in 2015, an architectural report revealed dangerous flaws in the building’s façade requiring $6-million in urgent repairs.
Now Gascon, who was appointed to the high court in 2014, and his wife, provincial court judge Marie Michelle Lavigne, are suing to recover their share of the cost of repairs. In a separate court action, the association representing condo owners alleges that the repairs were necessitated by shoddy, mob-controlled renovations to the heritage building.
The property at 1000 de la Commune Street E., dubbed L’Héritage du Vieux-Port, was considered a prestigious address when it first opened, attracting professional hockey players and other celebrities.
But the Charbonneau inquiry into corruption revealed the building’s seedy side, detailing the links between the project’s developers and the Rizzuto Mafia clan.
Tony Magi, through his company HarbourTeam Developments Inc., was the initial developer of the $71-million project to convert the abandoned warehouse in Montreal’s Old Port into condos. When Magi ran short of money, the Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto began pulling strings, the inquiry reported. His son, Nick Rizzuto Jr., who was murdered in 2009, played a large part in the project.
A 2004 police wiretap captured Vito Rizzuto, who was imprisoned at the time and died in 2013, telling Magi the de la Commune building was going to become “one of the hottest places in the city.” Magi was kidnapped in April 2005 and survived an assassination attempt in 2008. Both crimes remain unsolved.
In the end, a number of Rizzuto associates ended up buying apartments in the building to finance the renovation, the inquiry heard. And the Rizzuto clan got its share of the profits when son Leonardo’s numbered company bought five condos for one dollar each in 2008. The family resold the condos at a profit of $1.7-million, the inquiry found.
The association representing co-owners in the building was the first to file suit in Superior Court after learning of defects threatening the building’s stability and longevity. In court documents, the association said the defects “place in danger the residents and visitors to the building.”
The suit seeks $6-million from Magi, HarbourTeam, and 23 other individuals and companies that played a part in the construction. But last February, as the Superior Court case looked like it would drag on for years, Gascon and Lavigne, filed their own suit against the current property manager, Gestion Immobilière TRAMS Inc.
Arguing that there was a hidden defect in the property they purchased, they are seeking a refund of the $30,629 paid as their share of repairs made in 2015 as well as a comparable sum for repairs required in 2016.
TRAMS sought to have the suit suspended because it duplicates elements of the co-owners’ case before Superior Court, but in a ruling last month the Quebec Court of Appeal sided with Gascon and Lavigne. The appeal court ruled that plaintiffs were entitled to have their case heard swiftly, which was not going to happen with the Superior Court file.
The appeal court ruling referred to allegations by the association representing the condominium co-owners “that several of the developers of the Héritage real-estate project are closely tied to organized crime, that the project was orchestrated with the goal of laundering money from criminal activities” and that TRAMS itself is “tied to certain elements of organized crime.”
Related
- Clement Gascon, a Quebec Court of Appeal judge, nominated to Supreme Court
- Quebec corruption inquiry hears the voice of Vito Rizzuto from beyond the grave. Apparently he had hiccups
The association alleges there is reason to believe that “a stratagem was put in place to complete the conversion of the building without respecting standard practices, then to proceed to sell the condominium units so as to generate considerable profits, leaving behind many unpaid creditors,” the ruling reads.
The association alleges the failure to follow accepted building practices led to “major deterioration of the building envelope.”
Because Lavigne sits in Montreal, the couple’s lawsuit has been transferred to be heard before a Quebec Court judge in Longueuil. But while they wait for justice, Gascon and Lavigne have apparently given up on their big-city haven. Municipal tax records show that last September a new owner bought their condo, valued at $1,056,200 for tax purposes.
• Email: ghamilton@nationalpost.com | Twitter: grayhamilton
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