A Southern Ontario realtor who closed the Elgin Street building he bought less than a year ago after the city deemed it unfit for human occupation hopes the City of Greater Sudbury will buy the building as they did the Ledo Hotel in June.
Further, he alleges he was tricked into the purchase by the seller, and all attempts to repair or add security to the building have been thwarted.
The irregularly shaped, block-sized building is addressed from 352 Elgin Street to 362 Elgin Street. It is located directly behind the Samaritan Centre, a block away from the Ledo hotel. The city is spending approximately $2 million to purchase the triangle-shaped block on which the old hotel building currently stands.
The owner in question, Yinan Xia, told Sudbury.com he purchased the building on Elgin in October 2022 for $2.25 million.
But since that time, “all hell has broken loose,” he told Sudbury.com.
Xia said he hired an inspection service, Pinchin, a national company with an office in Sudbury, for a report on the state of the building before he purchased it. He said he viewed the property prior to the sale, but was unfamiliar with “the demographics of the area.”
Xia now alleges the building’s previous owner, Cedric Ferrier, kept him and the inspection service in the dark about certain aspects of the structure.
“A lot of defects were hidden from us by the seller that we were not aware of during our visits,” Xia alleges. “Whether it was us or the inspector, during those times, the building was put into an optimal state where there were no squatters, there's nobody causing issues during those visits, to make it seem like it's a good investment decision.”
Xia said, given the issues with the building, he hopes the city will buy the property just as they did “the hotel down the street,” referring to the Ledo. Xia said he is close to filing for bankruptcy and can’t afford to put any more into the building.
He also directed Sudbury.com to speak with the property manager he hired after purchasing the building, a local paralegal named John Andersen, who Xia said would be more familiar with the issues at the building.
Among the pieces of information omitted by the original owner, Andersen told Sudbury.com he only recently learned of the existence of an entire basement under the part of the building at 352 Elgin, a basement the existence of which the seller never disclosed.
When a tenant on the main floor later reported a plumbing issue in their unit, Andersen not only learned of the basement, but that tenant had a key to it.
“When we got there, there was a foot of sewage on the ground,” said Andersen, noting that a pipe had “snapped.”
He told Sudbury.com he hired a plumber to fix it, but claimed the plumber became sick with E.coli.
The previous owner only showed one apartment to the inspector, Andersen alleged, the one in the best state of repair. Sudbury.com confirmed this with the tenant, Patrick Godin, whose apartment was the only one shown.
Andersen also claimed that prior to Xia’s ownership, Godin was in the employ of the previous owner and was tasked with ensuring “the trash” — referring to the 40-some squatters staying in the building — was out of the building and would ensure that people paid their rents. Godin confirmed this. Andersen said he did not wish Godin to continue in this role.
Help wanted, but not given
After Xia purchased the building, Andersen said he tried to hire security companies to watch the property and to install security cameras. He said that each company either charged an exorbitant amount or cancelled the contract once they learned the address of the building, which, he said, has a reputation.
Anderson said one police officer he spoke to referred to the building as “the asshole of Sudbury for 30 years.”
Andersen said he received similar responses from tradespeople and contractors he tried to hire to repair the building. That, or they would arrive and refuse to enter as they felt it was unsafe. One company quoted Andersen $40,000 to replace two steel doors on the building. He feels they did it so they wouldn’t get the job.
Andersen said he then gave “about 10 keys” to the building to officers with Greater Sudbury Police Service so they “could enter the building without being called” as reports of violence were common in the building.
“There were 20 calls for attempted murder in April alone,” he claims. “And that’s after the arson attempt.”
Sudbury.com attempted to confirm this with GSPS, but police refused to share the information and required Sudbury.com to apply for the information under the Freedom of Information Act. That process is ongoing.
In January, Andersen said he emailed both Mayor Paul Lefevbre and Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier about the building, but said neither responded.
Incidentally, in researching this story, Sudbury.com uncovered an ongoing issue with city councillors’ emails. Fern Cormier confirmed with Sudbury.com that an ongoing IT issue affected his receipt of email. He only received the January email from Anderson on Aug. 29.
The mayor’s office has not responded to Sudbury.com.
Cormier told Sudbury.com he learned that Xia and city staff had been in contact over the last several months, and that staff felt the owner was taking these steps in order to remove the tenants and board up the building so repairs could take place and occupancy restored.
For reasons of imminent danger to life
On July 19, a sign appeared on the door of 362 Elgin Street, posted by Greater Sudbury Fire Services, that noted “for reasons of imminent danger to life for transients that occupy the building and a reasonable probability that a fire will start and impede timely egress to any occupants in the building,” there would need to be a posted fire watch and temporary safeguards, including temporary safeguards such as fire extinguishers and smoke alarms installed.
Those safeguards had been in place but were stolen, said Andersen. The newly installed extinguishers and alarms were stolen again shortly after being replaced, he said.
On Aug. 22, after learning of the issue, Sudbury.com asked the city for an interview regarding the building and next steps.
As the city routinely does, we were denied an interview with relevant staff and provided a statement instead.
The city statement said “conversations with the building owner have resulted in his decision to close the building.” (For his part, Xia said he did not know closing the building to occupancy was an option until city staff offered it to him after the July 19 notice was posted.)
Social Services client navigators, along with fire department staff and city building officials, were on hand to support tenants, reads the statement, and residents of the building received notices from the building owner to vacate the building so renovations could be made. The deadline for eviction was July 31.
“Once the deadline passes and not all tenants have vacated, the landlord would need to begin the eviction process with the Landlord and Tenant Board,” continues the statement. “There were approximately 25 apartment units with people residing in them. Client Navigators were able to engage with some residents to offer support. To date, most tenants have vacated the building with the exception of a few illegal tenants who remain.”
Xia and Andersen both say there are currently six registered tenants in the building, though there were 35 when they purchased it. There were more than 40 people squatting in the building, they said.
The rent began at $850 inclusive for a one-bedroom apartment.
Andersen said many tenants moved out quickly while others simply stopped paying rent, and more failed to pay once they saw the lack of consequences for not paying.
They said the City of Greater Sudbury continues to visit the building to assess any changes and that Greater Sudbury Fire Services is currently working with the Office of the Fire Marshall to determine next steps.
Order to remedy unsafe building
“The building life and safety components have been compromised,” reads a notice posted Aug,. 28 on all doors from 352 to 362 Elgin Street. “The building has no fire alarm system that is operable and no smoke detection system. The fire separations have been breached throughout the building.”
The notice states the building is no longer deemed fit for occupancy and is in a condition that could be hazardous to the occupants.
“Occupancy of the building is prohibited until the life and safety components have been reinstated to the satisfaction of the Chief building Official and Fire Prevention Officer,” it reads. “The building shall be secured and boarded up from anyone gaining entry until the life and safety components have been dealt with.”
The order states the owner must take the remedial steps set out or render the building safe on or before Aug. 30.
Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier, where the building is situated, said the city will try to work with the owner and will often extend deadlines if the building owner is trying to remedy the issue.
The notice states that if the order is not complied within the time specified, the chief building official may “prohibit the use or occupancy of the building and may cause the building to be renovated, repaired or demolished to remove the unsafe condition.”
If this is the case, the city would then put a lien on the building for the amount spent, collected in the same way as municipal taxes.
Xia said he hopes the city will work with him to find a solution for his problem.
“We're hoping that they can step forward to work with us, because it's a good location, it's downtown, it's part of that whole plan to revamp this area and make it better,” said Xia. “That's one of the main reasons they bought that hotel (the Ledo), right, to revamp this area to solve these issues. And this is the centre of the problem for this area.”
He said that if he had money, he would help, but as it is, he has no options.
“If I had $100 million, trust me, I'll be solving this easily; but I don't, I'm at the verge of bankruptcy myself,” said Xia. “If nobody helps us, we can only let the city take the building and bankrupt it and let the bank deal with it. That's the only way we have.”
Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized communities for Sudbury.com
