This vacant Montreal building partially collapsed. Why is it still standing — and who's responsible?
Borough hires private investigator to find owners as demolition delayed
It's been almost two months since a vacant building on Montreal's Park Avenue partially collapsed, sending a throng of bricks and debris into the building next door and forcing those tenants out of their homes.
The derelict building in Mile End at 5986-5992 Park Ave., which is registered to Habitat 237 Grande-Île S.E.N.C., has been slated to come down for two years.
But because it's still standing, neighbouring tenants like Mikaela Germani have not been able to return home since its partial collapse on March 17.
"Why is … the fact that 20 plus people are unhoused for an indeterminate amount of time not significant enough for action to be taken?" said Germani.
The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough says it has commissioned a private investigator to hand the owners of the vacant building a 20-day notice to begin the demolition before it takes it over at their expense.
But that process can only begin once the borough serves the owners, and borough spokesperson Geneviève Allard said the company's registered address is invalid.
The president of Habitat 237 Grande-Île S.E.N.C., Daniel Lalonde, could not be reached for comment. CBC News was able to contact the company's vice-president, Jonathan Pigeon, by phone and text message. He refused to comment.
Allard confirmed that Lalonde and Pigeon were the directors of the company that owns the building.
Who's responsible for demolishing an unsafe building?
The owners of the vacant building first applied for a demolition permit in May 2023 but abandoned the process when the borough asked for additional documentation, the borough said in a statement.
In the spring of 2024, the borough went so far as to issue a demolition order after it found the building had become dangerous. The owners co-operated until July but then stopped returning the borough's correspondence — until their building wall came down on its own accord.
According to the city's regulation on the construction and transformation of buildings, if a building owner defaults on their obligation to make sure their property is safe, the "competent authority" can carry out the work, including taking on the demolition, to ensure public safety.
"Although the borough theoretically has the power to intervene to demolish a building, this is an exceptional step that has never been taken by the borough," Allard said in an email last Friday.
According to the borough, the owners of 5986-5992 Park Ave. have reached out to three contractors for the job but no tangible steps have been taken to demolish the building.
The borough says it will have to consult with its legal department if it's unable to serve the owners with the demolition notice.
'No end in sight'
Germani said she called 311 a week before the building's partial collapse to report falling bricks and a loose window frame barely held together by the bulging wall.
Firefighters were following up on her call when the wall came crashing down.
"It's shameful that they even allowed something that they own, that's under their name, that's connected to them, to get to this point," said Germani, referring to the owners.
Germani broke her lease at 5998 Park Ave. and will soon move into a smaller, more expensive apartment further away, but her bulkier items like her furniture remain trapped in her home. The entrance to her building, which was essentially crushed by the tumbling wall, remains inaccessible.
The co-owner of 5998 Park Ave., Gordon Johnston, says he's had to break nine leases out of 12 so far. With no revenue, he's been covering building expenses out of pocket.
"Everybody's like losing their mind," he said, referring to his partners. "We have an empty building, we got no answers for the tenants, we have no end in sight."
Every morning, he calls the borough to get an update on the situation. With no new information, the borough has stopped picking up his calls as often, he said.
"The city says it's an imminent danger. Well how come they're not taking imminent action?"
Germani, for her part, remains shaken by the incident. Much of the debris from the collapsed building ended up in her living room.
"I wonder if this building would have been demolished if I had died," she said.
"At the end of the day, it's sort of the whim of an individual over whether or not I'm going to have a safe space to live."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
