Brewery site owner to pay five-figure fine for ignoring city

The corporate owners of the dilapidated former Northern Breweries site must pay a $55,000 penalty for failing to comply with city orders to make the site safe.

Justice of the Peace Gary McMahon delivered the sentence this afternoon in Provincial Offences Court.

No representative of the building’s owner, Renaissance Place Corp., was present for a June trial during which the company was found guilty of not completing the work, and no one represented the company at today’s sentencing.

Matthew Caputo, municipal prosecutor, had sought the maximum $100,000 fine applicable under the Building Code Act, but told reporters he was happy with the JP’s ruling, which included an order prohibiting Renaissance Place Corp. from repeating the offence.

“(The prohibition order) will allow us to seek different remedies if the work isn’t completed,” said Caputo.

The court heard the city spent $8,475 to board up the vacant building after the building’s owners failed to do so, in order to prevent access.

In handing down his sentence, McMahon said the fact that Renaissance Place did not comply with that “relatively minor cost” showed “a lack of concern for public safety.”

While a February, 2013 fire that severely damaged the building predated the city building code order, McMahon said it “illustrates how potential harm can become real danger.”

Following the fire Renaissance Place Corp. did demolish part of the building most severly damaged, but the municipality issued an order calling on the company to take further action on the vacant building's condition after a September 2013 inspection revealed that water had ponded on the roof while other parts of the roof were prone to leak.

The building, which still displays the Northern Breweries wolf-head logo, has stood vacant since 2006 when the brewery shut its doors for good.

In 2011, the city sold the 1.8-acre property in a tax sale to a Toronto group that proposed a grandiose condominium project costing $80 million and rising to a height that would have dwarfed the tallest of the city’s buildings.

No development ever took place.

Previous SooToday coverage of this story:

Prosecutor seeks maximum building code fine against former brewery owners

Fire at Northern Breweries (35 photos, video)

Northern Breweries site to be used for new condos

(FILE PHOTO: The former Northern Breweries site is pictured on June 18. Michael Purvis/SooToday)