Mayor blames owner for building collapse

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This article was published 16/03/2011 (5567 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The owner of a 10th Street building that collapsed early Tuesday morning is responsible for putting the public in danger, Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said.

"I think that the owner of any building that is in such condition, that a bit of snow on the roof causes the roof to collapse, needs to understand that they can’t be putting citizens at risk," Decter Hirst told the Sun yesterday.

"They have an obligation to maintain the building, and obviously … I mean it wasn’t an unusual amount of heavy snowfall on that roof. So something was up."

The so-called Brown Block, as well as the adjoining parking lot is own by a numbered company, 5887675 Manitoba Ltd.

Winnipeg resident Richard Hooker is listed as the president of the company on the property’s ownership declaration and registration certificate.

The document, which was obtained by the Sun, was signed by Hooker on December 23, 2010 and the land was registered with the Property Registry of Manitoba and the land titles office on Dec. 30.

A large number of properties on both sides of the street formerly owned by businessman John Laurence — including the 10th Street Emporium — were foreclosed on by Winnipeg-based Sun Mortgage Corporation last year.

Hooker, who purchased the properties from Sun Mortgage, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The were no reports of any injuries in the collapse, much to the relief of Curtis Shewchuk, project manager for Winnipeg-based Sussex Realty, the company that began managing the building last October.

"Fortunately nobody got hurt," Shewchuk said. "Thank God this wasn’t 10 a.m. when people could have been getting into those cars.

"We have had a lot of snow this year, but to think we’d get a roof failure is shocking. To have a complete roof failure is a shock."

Shewchuk said while there is insurance on the building, he believes the insurance did not cover rebuilding the structure. He says it’s likely the building will have to be taken down the rest of the way.

"From here it gets turned over to our insurance broker who turns it over to the adjuster," Shewchuk said on Tuesday morning.

"I haven’t spoken to the adjuster yet. He brings in the structural guys to see if there’s anything to save. It’s safe to say there won’t be."

Earlier this year during the 2011-12 budget deliberations, the City of Brandon added $250,000 to the city’s property reserve for the potential purchase of downtown properties which could assist with council’s vision for downtown revitalization.

At the time, Decter Hirst said the city should anticipate such purchases, rather than being "passive" and waiting for the private sector to do it.

When asked by the Sun whether the collapse would change the city’s plans, she answered with a question of her own.

"Do I want a building that’s falling down?"

Renaissance Brandon chairman, and Rosser Ward councillor Corey Roberts lamented the building’s destruction, but said that the collapse will speed up the site’s redevelopment.

"It enables us to get that block cleaned up sooner than later," Roberts said.

"It had been on the Renaissance Brandon radar for six to eight months. It was a key piece of property we needed to see developed … This makes it happen today, not down the road."

He said it was unfortunate that a historic building had been left to become derelict and dangerous, and cautioned absentee landlords and landowners who neglect their buildings that council may look at imposing penalties, something that came out of a recent strategic planning session.

"If you will be an absentee landlord, you will start paying more taxes because they hurt our city. That’s one of the … possibilities of what we could do down the road."

Brandon city manager Ted Snure told the Sun that structural engineers were attempting to determine whether the collapse had caused damage the structures of the adjacent buildings, including the Strand Theatre, which shares a wall with a section of the Brown Block.

Snure said the collapsed building will likely be torn down, but it will have to be done with public safety in mind.

"It’s a matter of whether or not they take part of it down right now to alleviate the immediate concerns, or if they need to take all of it down right now."

The Brandon Folk, Music and Arts Society has been attempting to secure federal funding for the Strand Project, which would see the former theatre on the east side of the 100-block of 10th Street renovated to feature a medium-sized theatre space.

Organization chair Shandra MacNeill was saddened by the collapse of the structure, but said she was not concerned by it.

"The Strand is in great engineering state," MacNeill said. "I’m not worried about it coming down or anything."

Currently the Strand is owned by Landmark Cinema, which she says has a letter of agreement with the owner of the Brown Block regarding the common wall.

"I’m sure they’ll do everything that they’re responsible for doing. It’s just too bad that the Brown Block had to go."

A spokesperson for Landmark Cinema could not be reached for comment yesterday.