Czech project on canal sabotaged:developer. Montreal Gazette

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=4a4c35a5-d4ba-403a-b423-f947c3ea117b

Czech project on canal sabotaged
developer: On 'hot' real estate; Parks Canada says cultural centre plan was changed, now violates lease

ANN CARROLL
The Gazette


July 14, 2005

CREDIT: GORDON BECK, THE GAZETTE
Developer George Syrovatka on a parcel of land north of the Lachine Canal in Griffintown, where he had hoped to build a Czech cultural centre and hotel. Parks Canada has had second thoughts about the project. Syrovatka suggests other market pressures are in play now.


George Syrovatka says his plans for a Czech cultural and convention centre next to the Lachine Canal are being sabotaged by other developers as well as misunderstandings with Parks Canada and borough officials.

"The area has become too 'hot,' " said Syrovatka, a marketing and management consultant and director of the non-profit Czech Cultural Centre Inc.

"Had it been built two or three years ago, nobody would have noticed.

"Now, with interest in the casino (relocation) and condo development, our teeny, tiny piece of land has become a strategic place."

In 2002, Parks Canada gave Syrovatka's non-profit group a 99-year lease for $1 on a vacant industrial lot at Seminaire and Olier Sts., in the old Griffintown district.

The plan was to build a cultural centre, with exhibition halls and guest rooms, to host art shows, workshops and other cultural events.

Funding for the project was to come from private investors who would manage the property and rent out meeting rooms and accommodations, Syrovatka said.

The building was to revert to Parks Canada at the end of the lease.

Federal officials now say the Czech centre organization has violated lease conditions: the original four-storey project has grown, without Parks Canada approval, into a six-storey centre with 70 hotel rooms, and the site has not been decontaminated within the required two years.

Syrovatka said it was his understanding that the decontamination could wait until he had a building permit, a process that has yet to be completed.

He insisted Parks Canada has been kept informed about the evolution of the project.

If the commercial side of the venture has grown, it is only because Parks Canada stipulated in 2002 that the centre could not ask for government funding, Syrovatka said.

"If we don't have (business) income, we'd go bankrupt soon."

Parks Canada has given the Czech Cultural Centre until the end of August to rectify matters.

"The ball is on their side of the fence," Lynn Cleary, Parks Canada director for Quebec, said Tuesday. "They have to call and show us they will comply with the lease."

Montreal's Southwest borough initially approved the project, which conforms with local zoning. But the plan was dropped from the council agenda this month, in light of the lease dispute.

The issue could come up for discussion at the Aug. 2 council meeting, borough mayor Jacqueline Montpetit said.

Syrovatka says he hopes to persuade both Parks Canada and the borough to give him a break.

The centre would create about 70 permanent jobs, he noted, and its facilities - including a canal-side restaurant and a rooftop sports club - would be open to the general public.

"We've put a lot of effort and money into this," said Syrovatka, 59, a former champion speed skier who left Czechoslovakia for Montreal in 1972.

There are about 5,000 people of Czech origin in Montreal and 60,000 across Canada, mainly in Toronto and Vancouver.

The Czech Republic embassy in Ottawa is steering clear of the dispute.

Embassy officials initially welcomed Syrovatka's plan to build a venue in Montreal for Czech cultural activities, embassy spokesperson Jan Buben said this week.

The Czech government has its own network of 19 cultural centres in London, Paris, New York and other major cities, he noted.

But Syrovatka's decision to expand the project and boost the number of hotel rooms is a business decision and has nothing to do with the embassy, Buben said.

"In his dispute with Parks Canada and the city, we do not support him," he said. "We are not trying to influence anyone - it's none of our business."

acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005

Czechs get sketchy property

July 7th, 2005
New casino sparks real estate gold rush
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Czechs get sketchy property
P.A. Sévigny



Olier and Du Séminaire, contested corner
photo: Joseph Yarmush

Last week, during a routine public consultation for a zoning change in Montreal's Sud-Ouest, borough councillors and residents learned that sooner or later, someone, somewhere, was going to make himself a lot of money.

During the meeting, borough Mayor Jacqueline Montpetit and councillors Robert Bousquet and Line Hamel were surprised to learn that three years ago this August, a group that claims to represent the city's Czech community paid $1 to the Canadian government for a 99-year lease for a 15,000 square foot plot of land along Montreal's Lachine Canal. While the Czech community group, led by Montreal businessman George Syrovatka, originally stated they wanted to build a small community centre on the property, the group now intends to build a 71-room hotel complete with swimming pool and indoor parking on the site. During the meeting, people were also stunned to hear real estate specialist Sam Ralph state that he had several clients who would be ready to offer up to $1-million for the Czech Centre's lease.

"I'm selling land for people who are asking for up to $65 a square foot for land in this area," said Ralph, who is also a chartered accountant. "If you compare that to $3 in Laval or $6 off Notre-Dame Street near Dickson in the east end, it's an expensive piece of real estate."

While the property being discussed is just a small part of the 1,500,000 square feet of land the federal government owns on the north shore of the Lachine Canal, the Czech Centre's 15,000 square feet are situated
on the corner of Olier and Du Séminaire Streets, which happens to be a stone's throw across the canal from where Loto-Québec is planning to build its new casino.

Businessman Chris Cornell, who owns the property next to the one on the corner, was also at the meeting. Four years ago, Cornell was turned down when he offered to buy the property from Public Works Canada, then led by former cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano.

"Three years ago, the government wrote back to tell me that the land was definitely not for sale," he said. Shortly after Cornell received the government's reply, he heard that the land had been leased to a group that was planning to build a local community centre for the city's Czech community.

Jean-Pierre Leclerc, an artist and local community activist, was more than a little curious about the Syrovatka group's astounding luck.

"If the Czech government was willing to grant a group of Montreal artists 15,000 square feet of prime downtown real estate in the heart of Prague for the equivalent of one Canadian dollar, I wouldn't mind so much," he said. "But we're still waiting..."

Syrovatka, who heads the Czech Centre hotel development project, attended the meeting.

"Four years ago, when we asked for the land, nobody was interested in the project," he said. "Now that the casino is going up on the other side of the canal, everybody is interested."

When asked why his group got lucky with the federal government, he just shrugged and said that he had "simply asked for it."

Syrovatka said that the hotel is the means by which the community centre could support itself without having to always depend upon the government for its subsidies. Others are not so sure.

"It's mad," said Sam Ralph. "This hotel is going to be as tall as the old Northern Electric building on St-Patrick Street and there won't be five metres of space between the hotel and the canal. The basement will be flooded and the sightlines along the canal will be completely destroyed."

Jean Durcak, the president of Montreal's Maison Tchèque, also raised some doubt as to the legitimacy of the Syrovatka group's right to represent Montreal's Czech community.

"Since when does Mr. Syrovatka represent Montreal's Czech community?" he asked. "I represent Montreal's Czech community, and this is the first time I hear about this project."

Lawyer Robert Charlton wants to know why the Czech Centre dossier made its way from Alfonso Gagliano's department over to Sheila Copps' Heritage Department just three months before the deal was signed.

P.A. Sévigny





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A good hearted deed turned dark
vote for this comment

Well the Canadian government decides to do something good for the Czech community and the leaders decide to stab the government and its constiuents in the back. The darkness from the Casino has already started to fill the city and it hasn't even been built yet. Well let's check out the pros and cons for the two businesses.

First the Hotel: It will generate revenues as rich tourists come to visit Montreal and want to be walking distance to a casino. Since the other casino on parc Jean Drapeau is protected green space no developper can build a hotel there (thank God). But Montreal island is not a park so this project is certainly possible. It will create temporary jobs for construction and house cleaning jobs. It will probably be frequented by criminals who now have a place to stay to launder the money into the casino but who's going to say that in favour of the Hotel.

The community center: It gives a place for young people to play sports, do activities and stay out of trouble. Most kids nowadays are getting too obese playing video games or getting into trouble. Forcing them to goto the gym won't keep them in shape unless they do something fun. What is fun is playing basketball, soccer, tennis, various sports. This will keep them out of trouble, in shape and having fun. The benefits are no monetary but there's no negatives to this project as oppose to the hotel.

Finally the lease was granted to the community in good faith that they'd make a community center, not some hotel. The federal government is just as greedy as the the next person if it owns prime land for sale. But the government is for the people, not the corporation. They did something right by leasing the land. It's funny how the rich elite are now screwing over both. The lease should not be sold. A dollar value cannot be put on a community and it's resources. If your going to sell the land then you should have the courage to tell the kids: Sorry you ain't worth shit. Coz that's what they're actions

Alexander Yu
{6 votes}
July 9th, 2005


Czech-Mate!
vote for this comment

Damn but this sounds like a rather dubious state of affairs. If a lease was decreed to the group under the auspices of building a community center, then this group should really be obliged to follow through on it's initial stated intention. That the focus has been shifted away to something far more corporate smacks of a conflict of interest somewhere which, shamefully though not shockingly, comes as little surprise seeing as how it involves certain familiar names in the Liberal cabinet.

Mark St Pierre
{4 votes}
July 11th, 2005


Dough anyone?
vote for this comment

My parents has a shop on Guy Street and Notre-Dame, and in the past year, the owner has increased rent by 200%. Only recently we were asked to pay some $23,000 for some taxes. I cannot believe this, but we are not the only people who are having the same problem, because who are living in the surrounding areas have been complaining of increased in rent as a way of kicking these people off the land so that they can sell it to investors of the new casino and entertainment complex.

Okay, fine we live in a capitalist society where everyone is out for themselves, but I plea with the people, DO NOT let this happen. We are going for a downfall that we will not be able to crawl out of. So do you really want to be the next Atlantic City. I mean it is terrible, the casinos and hotels are gorgerous, but then if you take a good hard look at the surrounding neighbours they look like something out of Film Noir. Consider the children who are currently living in these neighbourhoods. It is one of the poorest neighbours in North America.

We must under all circumstances not allow this. Keep the casino where it currently is.

Clara Kwan
{5 votes}
July 10th, 2005


Yeah but what happens in 100 years?
vote for this comment

No seriously, it's all nice and dandy that the Czechs got lucky on this deal but what happens in 100 years? It's not that long a timespan... Of course, we won't be here but our children will.

Will the city of Montreal renew the lease? For how much (I doubt it will be for one dollar)? And I'm quite certain it won't be for another 100 years...

It's too bad we won't be around to watch this... Or maybe we'll get to watch it after all, if there is such a thing as heaven!

Natalie Dzepina
{6 votes}
July 9th, 2005


yet again
vote for this comment

Seems like everyday, there's a new dilemma about building houses/buildings/centers/etc.
When will it ever end?
The Czech's got a great deal for that piece of land, and things like that happen.
When people think the value of the land won't increase in the near-future they sell it off.
I'm going to relate this to the start of the Dot-Com boom. When it first started, people went out and bought all sorts of names for VERY cheap, then when the internet got huge, and everyone wanted their own domain, only to find out someone already bought it, they were forced to shell out large sums of money to get that name.
seems kind of similar to this piece of land.
Bought at a cheap price, and will be sold (someday) for a MUCH larger price.
Buy low, sell High!

Jeremy King
{3 votes}
July 9th, 2005


A piece of the tip of the Huge iceberg that our politic is.
vote for this comment

The land isn't for sale, even for 1000000$, but a 100 year lease for a buck, what a deal for the owner.
It doesn't make sense? I'm starting to sound crazy?
The only reason you think I'm crazy is because you and I don't know what's under this, like every other deal made by our governments.
Maybe M.Gagliano and/or others received something interesting for this lease, a little bonus, but if he would have sold it, the million dollars of profit would have been a benifit for the population.
Anyways, there is no transparency anywhere in our great country, neither on the federal, provincial or local side.
I can say that this deal made with the "czech community" is only one out of hundreds where our great governement did a deal for their own priorities and not for the country.
I hope that we, as canadians will wake up before it's too late and make everything needed to change the way things are made.

Francois Crepeau
{23 votes}
July 8th, 2005


I am skeptical
vote for this comment

There are obvious social issues about this project. And after seeing all of the things that have become public at the Gomery commision, I am pretty skeptical about this whole idea for a downtown Casino.
These things needs to be more transparent. There is too much hand money changing hands, and I am 100% positive that the federal Liberals are not the only politicians doing this.

Eric Wilson
{7 votes}
July 8th, 2005


Stick to the comunity centre
vote for this comment

Building this hotel is not going to benefit any one except the supposed "Czech" community who's views are slightly obscure. First off, how do you go from building a community centre to building a hotel, quite a big step there. All that building a hotel on this prime piece of property is going to do is promote people to come to the casino by giving then a place to stay just across the canal, and do we really want a casino in the first place? Lets just stick with the community centre shall we, because nobody really wants a hotel nor do they want a new casino.

Ian Irvine
{11 votes}
July 7th, 2005


Gimme a Break
vote for this comment

A single dollar for a 99-year lease for a 15,000 square foot plot of land along Montreal's Lachine Canal? You've gotta be kidding me. A dollar won't even buy you a decent cup of java nowadays... This is yet another story that reeks of corrupt politicians, kickbacks and shady dealings. I'm not very active politically, but doesn't it seem like Alfonso Gagliano's name has been mentionned quite often lately, and in a very negative light?

Alan Huang
{7 votes}
July 7th, 2005


Czech Out This Sweet Deal........
vote for this comment

Right under their noses. No fooling anyone, the Czech Community Centre was going to be built and they had 99 years to think about the details.
Ok, sounds like a great plan and the government officials responsible for leasing the land moved the Czech file to the "Done Deal" pile and moved on to more pressing issues.
The reality that this particular piece of land, at the corner of Olier and Du Séminaire, would become valuable should have been but wasn't examined...not enough by the paper shuffles in Alfonso Gagliano's stable because they're a busy bunch and there's never any underminded intent coming from community groups, now are there?
They (the Czechs) just wanted to find a place to put their cultural effects and sit and talk and...well whatever else you do at a Community Centre.
The last line of P.A. Sévigny's column however, caught my eye.
Why did the Czech Centre dossier go from Gagliano's Department to the Copps Heritage Department 3 months after the deal was signed? Now, come on guys, we know you're so busy, how did you have the insightfulness to move this particular file just before, and so conveniently, the corruption and interest allegations came about?
No, there's something fishy here.
Are there some Czech strippers, inside business partnerships or overseas and under the table handshakes that we should know about?

Steve Landry
{3 votes}
July 7th, 2005


A community center near the casino? Has the world gone mad!!!
vote for this comment

Picture this: a community center where members of the community should have access to meeting rooms, halls, game rooms, a gym, perhaps a small theatre. Members of the commuity come out and spend time socializing and doing collective activities. It is supposed to be a kind of a family thing.
Now Picture a community center next to a casino. Add to this a hotel and wonder, what kind of a community development will we have where there is gambling, fast cash, lots of young women, older men and hotels?
Is it just me or is there something wrong with this picture?

Giuliano D'Andrea
{4 votes}
July 7th, 2005


And so it begins...
vote for this comment

This casino project filled me with foreboding from the start. Is this really the kind of "attraction" we want to have marking our city? Doesn't sound particularly attractive to me at all. As for The Czech organization, their desire to capitalize on this devolopment is understandable, but still it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. If they were basically given this land, I don't think it was to build a hotel! Sure, they can rationalize that the profits will go to the community, but if they haven't even managed to build a community center in three years, on land that they got for a dollar, I'm skeptical that they'll really do anything worthwhile with the money. Exactly where are these profits going to go? And this hotel sounds like a huge eyesore! Yuck! No, I have a very bad feeling about this...

Karen Sollazzo
{10 votes}
July 7th, 2005


News flash!
vote for this comment

Business is business, try not to be too shocked that somebody out there found an angle to exploit. Admit it, if you could do it you'd try to score a piece of the action too. To say that this whole affair looks to be shady as sin is putting it lightly but I live in a world where Karla Homolka has been set free in my backyard, where terrorists just attacked London one day after it won its 2012 Olympic bid and all sort of assorted deaths & crimes happen daily that I dare not get into here...so forgive me if I'm just a little less than surprised or affected by a little blattant greed and crooked business.

Pedro Eggers
{9 votes}
July 7th, 2005


Thicker than sand and water.
vote for this comment

First step:
Inhale slowly, hold that breath sleightly, exhale and say the first word that comes to mind. after you perform this vital exercise, then you can see how the lines converge involving the bid on land along lachine canal.
As the forces of opportunities gathers and conspire to create that endless money-pot, many hands are being fed. the word 'corruption' could be used but i don't believe that word becomes proper. instead, in using the aforementioned exercise, i will offer another word to be considered in association with the move made by czech wundermind george syrovatka:
Paradigm.
A paradigm represents a system of thought created to explore the vast potential of other systems of thought given license and breath to exist. in this situation, syrovatka and other interested parties have created a paradigm designed to generate the vast potential of capital come courtesy of loto-quebec's and cirque du soleil's paradigm on creating the casino-of-the-gods with a price tag over one billion dollars. therefore while there exists the expected backlash and resistance against the proposed casino-of-the-gods, the logical thinking here would be that power will prevail.
Power based upon the understanding that paradigms supported and seen through their conclusions will manifest into the situation where loop-holes are used by those with an obvious long-term interest in hyper revenues created by the casino-of-the-gods paradigm of loto-quebec and cirque du Soleil. the money paradigm will continue to overturn those 'proper' routes within any government because the appeal of revenue that the federal government can gain access to will allow these 'proper' routes to always be overturned.
Therefore, suspicions needs to be replaced with the wisdom of the serpent's intent. realising that revenues generated by this current paradigm of real-estate development will bring depth and functionality to any resistance invoked. the wisdom of the serpent needs to be applied.

Gary Womac
{3 votes}
July 7th, 2005


Developers rule
vote for this comment

This certainly does look sketchy, particularly when the plans for a useful community centre that would fit the area are turned into a massive hotel plan. Then again, regardless of ethnicity, the sort of people who stand up and claim to lead a community are often schemers looking to line their pockets. You always have to check and make sure that there is really a community behind them.
Let's hope this whole misguided casino plan falls by the wayside, and maybe we'll end up with the community centre after all.

Max Webster
{3 votes}
July 7th, 2005

Centre Culturel Tcheque -- La Presse

Un hôtel de luxe sur un terrain patrimonial?
Nicolas Bérubé
28 juin 2005 - 07h35

Un projet de centre culturel tchèque, pour lequel Ottawa a accepté de céder un terrain patrimonial longeant le canal de Lachine pour un dollar symbolique, s'est mystérieusement transformé en un projet d'hôtel de luxe, a appris La Presse.

Texte:

Le terrain est situé à un jet de pierre du bassin Peel, où Loto-Québec projette de déménager son Casino. Jusqu'en 2002, il faisait partie du parc du Canal-de-Lachine, espace classé « lieu historique national » que Parcs Canada se fait un devoir de protéger des intérêts privés.

En août 2002, sans tambour ni trompette, le ministère de la Justice, dirigé alors par Martin Cauchon, et celui du Patrimoine, dirigé par Sheila Copps, ont donné leur accord à un projet de location à long terme du lot situé à l'intérieur des limites du parc, à l'angle de la rue du Séminaire et de la rue Dock.

Dans un bail emphytéotique d'une durée de 99 ans et d'une valeur symbolique d'un dollar, le gouvernement cède le contrôle du terrain à George Syrovatka, responsable du Centre tchèque inc. Cette organisation à but non lucratif compte y construire un centre culturel visant à faire la promotion de la culture tchèque.

Or, en janvier 2005, le projet soumis par M. Syrovatka à la Ville de Montréal est tout autre: le promoteur veut désormais construire un édifice de six étages et de 70 000 pieds carrés abritant un hôtel de 75 chambres ainsi qu'un centre sur la culture tchèque. Le projet s'appelle maintenant « Centre culturel et hôtel- Centre culturel tchèque ». L'édifice proposé est d'une hauteur de 25 mètres, soit le double de ce que la réglementation permet.

Jointe par La Presse hier, la directrice nationale des communications de Parcs Canada, Nicole Racette, a indiqué être au courant du dossier. « Pour le moment, tout ce que je peux vous dire, c'est qu'une enquête interne est en cours afin de déterminer si les conditions du bail ont été respectées », a-t-elle dit.

George Syrovatka, le responsable du projet, a lui-même un parcours unique: il a été le petit ami d'Ivana Trump avant que celle-ci ne devienne la femme du richissime américain Donald Trump. M. Syrovatka a aussi été champion skieur: une course de descente baptisée George Syrovatka Downhill Race est organisée annuellement depuis 25 ans à la station de ski Jay Peak, au Vermont.

De son propre aveu, M. Syrovatka n'est pas celui qui finance cet ambitieux projet. Il est associé à un ou plusieurs hommes d'affaires, dont il veut taire l'identité pour le moment. « Le projet en est encore aux phases préliminaires, dit-il. Nous avons notamment besoin d'un changement de zonage. Nous allons avoir une meilleure idée de la version finale du projet d'ici la fin de l'année. » Selon le bail signé avec Parcs Canada, Centre tchèque inc. doit assumer les coûts de la décontamination du terrain avant d'y ériger un bâtiment.

On trouve déjà un endroit consacré à la culture tchèque dans le quartier, soit la Maison tchèque du Québec, située dans le quartier Émard. Selon M. Syrovatka la mission du futur centre culturel « sera sensiblement la même » que celle de la Maison tchèque. « Nous allons promouvoir la culture tchèque. La différence, ce sera l'hôtel, qui attirera une clientèle internationale et qui servira à financer le centre culturel », dit-il.

Pour Marc Tremblay, membre du regroupement Information Logement Pointe-Saint-Charles et bien au fait des projets immobiliers du quartier, les circonstances de la signature du bail entre le gouvernement et le Centre tchèque sont « étranges ».

« Ça n'a pas été annoncé, dit-il. Tout le monde s'est retrouvé devant un fait accompli. C'est extrêmement rare qu'un terrain en bordure du canal soit mis en disponibilité, et pour la somme d'un dollar... Je connais des tas de gens qui auraient aimé profiter de cette offre alléchante. »

À titre de comparaison, la future mise en disponibilité du centre de tri de Postes Canada, situé tout près du terrain en question, fait présentement l'objet d'un appel de propositions complexe.

La semaine dernière, la Ville de Montréal a annoncé qu'une assemblée publique de consultation sur le projet du Centre tchèque aura lieu demain, le 29 juin, à 20 h, au centre Georges-Vanier, au 2450, rue Workman.

Nicolas.berube@lapresse.ca

Czech Center -- Gazette Article

Tuesday » July 5 » 2005

Parks Canada backpedalling on cultural centre by canal
Czech group's plan, which includes hotel, doesn't honour lease terms, Ottawa says

ANN CARROLL
The Gazette

Tuesday, July 05, 2005


Parks Canada could scuttle plans for a six-storey hotel and Czech cultural centre on federal land next to the Lachine Canal in the old Griffintown district.

Federal officials say the project does not match the terms of a lease agreement on the land.

Developers have proposed building a 71-room hotel and cultural centre on vacant lots at Seminaire and Olier Sts., a stone's throw from the canal. The Parks Canada property lies within the Lachine Canal National Historic Site.

The non-profit Centre Tcheque Inc. obtained a 99-year lease on the property for $1 from Parks Canada in 2002, a department spokesperson said.

"At that time, Parks Canada was part of the Canadian Heritage Department, which had a mandate to support cultural community initiatives," explained Carol Sheedy, Parks Canada's director for eastern Canada.

The Centre Tcheque and its then director, George Syrovatka, had submitted a proposal to build a $1-million, four-storey cultural centre for activities organized by the Czech and other communities, Sheedy said. The building would have become the property of Parks Canada at the end of the lease, she noted.

Other conditions of the lease:

The centre had to decontaminate the land within two years (at an estimated cost of at least $330,000).

Any modifications to the plans had to be submitted to Parks Canada.

Neither of those conditions has been met, Sheedy said.

Federal officials sent notice to Centre Tcheque Inc. last week that its lease could be revoked if the situation is not corrected within 60 days.

Southwest borough councillors, who were to have given the project second approval at a meeting tonight, have withdrawn the item from the agenda.

The project, which came under scrutiny at a public consultation June 29, is again under study, Sylvain Villeneuve, the borough's planning consultant, said yesterday.

A spokesperson for Southwest borough mayor Jacqueline Montpetit said the mayor had reservations about the hotel/cultural centre but had given preliminary approval to the project to trigger public consultations and force the lease arrangement into the open.

The lack of information and debate over the use of public park land also concerned community activists, said Pierre Morissette of RESO, a community economic development organization.

By contrast, a former Canada Post sorting station - a one-million-square-foot property west of Seminaire - was the object last year of an intensive re-use study by architects and planners.

"We are not against the Czech cultural centre, but the way it was developed outside the community with no discussion within the milieu," Morissette said.

acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005

Czech Center -- Suburban

2005-07-06 09:01:43



$1M-for-$1 canal deal stalled


By P. A. Sévigny, The Suburban



Peel Basin: Proposed hotel would be close to planned casino/entertainment complex.

The Sud-Ouest borough council has delayed a decision on a spot-rezoning request that would have cleared the way for a Czech community centre and a 75-room luxury hotel on Canada Parks land.
The demand was removed from the agenda while Parks Canada conducts an internal probe into the deal, which gave real estate promoter George Syrovatka Crown land worth $1 million for $1.
The six-storey hotel on the north bank of the Lachine Canal would be a short walk from the proposed $1.5 billion Loto Quebec casino/Cirque de Soleil entertainment complex on the south side of the Peel Basin.
In shelving the request, borough chairwoman Jacqueline Montpetit and councillors Robert Bousquet and Line Hamel explained that they couldn’t understand why the federal government signed a 99-year lease with Syrovatka, allowing for a non-conforming development on 15,000 square feet of Parks Canada land near the eastern end of the Lachine Canal linear park.
The parcel is strategically situated on the corner of Olier and Du Séminaire streets immediately to the east of the boarded-up Canada Post sorting plant, itself due to be leased. Both lots form an integral part of a 1.5 million-square-foot tract owned by Parks Canada stretching along the north side of the canal from the bridge at the foot of Mountain St. to the MacAuslan Brewery to the west.
Last night’s decision to stall the project followed a public information meeting last Wednesday, where it quickly became obvious that the project, while small in and of itself, was part of a major real-estate blitz in the abandoned former industrial areas at the canal’s northeastern end.
La Cache founder Chris Cornell, who owns the property next to the vacant lot, said he had offered to buy the property from Public Works Canada, then headed by former cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano.
“Three years ago, the government wrote back to tell me that the land was definitely not for sale,” Cornell said. Yet shortly after Cornell received the government’s reply, he heard that the land had been leased to a group planning to build a centre for the city’s Czech community which has since morphed into the luxury hotel.
If the hotel is built as planned, Cornell fears it will ruin whatever plans he has to develop his own property because of the now limited access and its ruined sight lines.
Three years ago this August, a group led by Syrovatka and claiming to represent the city’s Czech community paid $1 for a 99-year lease for the lot. While the group had originally stated they wanted to build a small community centre, the promoter presented revised plans to the borough in January, 2005, requesting a derogation that would allow him to construct a building 25 metres in height, double the current height limit.
At last week’s information meeting, the borough council was stunned to hear real estate specialist Samuel Ralph announce he had several clients who would be ready to offer up to a $1 million for the Czech Centre’s lease.
“I’m selling land for people who are asking for up to $65 a square foot for land in this area, and I have buyers who are prepared to pay up to $50 for the same land,” said Ralph. “If you compare that to $3 in Laval or $6 off Notre Dame Street near Dickson in the east end, it’s an expensive piece of real estate.”
Ralph described the Sud-Ouest’s booming Griffintown real estate market as a feeding frenzy for the sharks.
“People are running after this market,” he said. “Power Corporation bought a couple of properties, including the old Séguin machine shop on the north shore of the canal while the city owns the old Agmont property on the south side.”
But Ralph had reservations about the height of the proposed hotel. “This hotel is going to be as tall as the old Northern Electric building on St. Patrick Street and there won’t be five metres of space between the hotel and the canal. The basement will be flooded and the sightlines along the canal will be completely destroyed.”
But Ralph doesn’t think last night’s refusal will halt the real-estate boom in that neighbourhood.
“Even if they stop this project,” he said, “it doesn’t matter because someone’s going to make him or herself a lot of easy money. After all, that lease can still be sold and it didn’t cost them much now, did it?”
Cornell’s lawyer Robert Charlton hinted at political problems.
“Why is Canada Parks holding an internal inquiry on this dossier?” he demanded. “Why won’t the government tell us what’s going on with this file? Who were the group’s contacts in the Public Works, Heritage Canada and Parks Canada? Why did the federal government ask for a $50,000 deposit for the project’s landscaping when there was no demand for money as a guarantee for the site’s decontamination?”
A clause in the group’s lease stipulates the site must be decontaminated within two years of the signing of the lease, Charlton noted, adding that the site had still not been cleaned up. He then asked the borough’s councillors why they were even considering the project when it was obvious that the group had already broken their lease.
Charlton was also curious as to how the Czech Centre dossier made its way from Alfonso Gagliano’s department over to Sheila Copp’s cultural heritage just three months before the deal was signed.
Syrovatka, the businessman who heads the hotel project, told the meeting he had simply asked for the lease.
“We’re doing this for our community,” he said. “We have letters from the Czech government and the Czech ambassador. They all support this project.”
Syrovatka said the hotel was added to the project so that the community centre could support itself without having to always depend upon the government for its subsidies.
“Four years ago, when we asked for the land, nobody was interested in the project,” he added. “Now that the casino is going up on the other side of the canal, everybody is interested.”
But Jean Durcak, the president of Montreal’s Maison Tchèque, questioned the legitimacy of the Syrovatka group’s claim to represent Montreal’s Czech community.
“Since when does Mr. Syrovatka represent Montreal’s Czech community?” he asked. “I represent Montreal’s Czech community, and this is the first time I hear about this project.”
Durcak told Montpetit that he had never heard of the Czech centre project until he went to see the borough’s urban planning department about another affair. That was when he saw the notice posted for the Wednesday evening meeting.
Durcak said that he and other members of the Czech community got the idea for a community centre some five years ago, after which they approached Syrovatka for some help with their project. Durcak said Syrovatka later told him that there were problems with the decontamination of the site and that the project did not seem to be going anywhere. After Durcak called Syrovatka a few times, he said that he let the matter drop when his calls were not returned.
“After a while,” he said, “when nothing seemed to be happening, we dropped the idea and everybody forgot about it.”
Jean Pierre Leclerc, an artist and community activist, was quite curious about the Syrovatka group’s astounding luck.
“If the Czech government was willing to grant a group of Montreal artists 15,000 square feet of prime downtown real estate in the heart of Prague for the equivalent of one Canadian dollar, I wouldn’t mind so much. But we’re still waiting….”