City provides accurate information about New Street condo building

Media release from the City of Burlington:

City provides accurate information about New Street condo building

Burlington, Ont. – April 5, 2016— The City of Burlington is responding to incorrect information published on a website and shared on social media related to a condominium building at 2411 New St.

The 56-unit condominium apartment building was built in 1965 and converted to condos in 1998. The city and its insurers, as well as others, have been in litigation with both the condo corporation and 27 unit owners since September 2011.

“I certainly understand that there are challenges for residents at this building—challenges they have expressed to the city,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “We have asked our legal team to set the record straight by providing accurate information to respond to factually incorrect information posted online.”

Here is some key information about the city’s involvement with 2411 New St.:

? The safety of all residents is a top concern. The city would take immediate steps to evacuate and make safe any structure that was at risk of collapse.
? The building met all relevant building codes at the time it was constructed, and again when it was converted to a condo.
? The building is structurally sound now, and not at risk of collapse. The engineer for the condo corporation and for the city both agree on this point.
? The engineers also agree that the building can be brought into compliance with the current Ontario Building Code with repairs costing $670,000 to $770,000,
? The city and others are currently in litigation with the condo corporation and a number of individual owners. This is working its way through the courts.
? The city empathizes with the owners who are now faced with significant repair costs. The building has been poorly maintained over the years. The decision to defer necessary preventive maintenance was made by the condo corporation. In general, cities do not buy homes or other properties because the owners have chosen to delay necessary preventive maintenance and must face expensive repairs.
? The building at 2411 New Street has been standing for more than 50 years without any sign of structural failure. The various professional engineers that have investigated the issue would have a professional obligation to alert the city of the threat of structural failure and the building would have been shut down.  None of the engineers took that action.