Empty units a bad sign, residents fear
But Parkdale owner says needed renovations are to blame for delay
More than 150 rental units sit vacant in the buildings at 103 and 105 West Lodge Ave., a pair of low-income towers in Parkdale known for years for their poor conditions.
Tenants in the 732-unit complex, and a representative from a local legal clinic, fear the vacancies signal property owner Timbercreek Asset Management intends to empty the buildings and turn the site into luxury rentals catering to higher-income earners.
“They’re holding vacant units off the rental market in the midst of a housing crisis,” says Cole Webber, a community legal worker with Parkdale Community Legal Services, who says Timbercreek has made a “serious push” to evict a large number of tenants since taking over.
But Timbercreek insists it does not intend to convert to upscale rentals.
“Our current strategy is to restore West Lodge — a property that has been badly neglected for many, many years — and rent vacant units at market rents. We are committed to a long-term investment in West Lodge, for all our residents,” Colleen Krempulec, a senior spokesperson for the company, said in a statement to the Star this week.
Timbercreek, which describes itself as a global “alternative asset class manager” with more than $10 billion in assets under management, took over the two troubled19-storey towers in the fall of 2018, purchasing the property near Queen Street West from Wynn Properties for nearly $170 million, according to records.
The two buildings came with a host of issues, including poor heating, electrical problems, leaks, faulty windows, rodent infestation and elevators that constantly broke down.
Tenants launched hundreds of property standards complaints against Wynn over the years, and the company was kept busy addressing dozens of compliance orders slapped on them by the city.
Now the new owners say they want to turn things around at West Lodge. Timbercreek has invested $12 million in a year and a half since taking over, including work on electrical and fire prevention systems, and elevator improvements. But the upgrades take time because the repair work is extensive and needs to be done in a specific order, the company says.
Yet suspicions about the new owner’s motives remain.
Webber argues there are several troubling signs that Timbercreek is trying to evict a “critical mass of tenants and then upscale and remarket units to a higher-income demographic.”
Counters Krempulec: “It was a long-neglected building and, with that, I believe residents have come to distrust their landlord. We’re really working very, very hard to gain that trust back and earn that trust back.”
Charles Doucette is thankful his cat catches the mice that run up the two gaping holes in the walls inside his bachelor unit.
The 47-year-old has been renting at West Lodge since 2014. Building management informed him in January that there would be drywall demolition in early March, followed by plumbing work the next week and drywall repair and painting the week after. The work is part of heating pipe replacement Timbercreek is doing on suites in the buildings.
The drywall demolition in Doucette’s unit took place on time, but the plumbing work stopped. He has had to live with the two holes workers left behind in March.
“Not much I can do about it,” he said. “I’m glad my cat can catch the mice that run up the pipes.”
Doucette said a neighbour moved out around the time Timbercreek took over and the unit remains empty. He walked by the unit recently and the door was open. He says he could see “major” water damage inside.
“They’ve had plenty of time to do (the repair work),” Doucette said. “It seems like they want to get everyone out and turn this building” over to higher-income earners.
Paterson Hodgson, an illustrator who lives in a two-bedroom unit at West Lodge, says the empty suites give the hallways in the two buildings a “ghosttown, ominous” feeling she and other tenants find unsettling.
“They’re trying to get rid of all of us … their plan is to displace and replace,” Hodgson said. “The more of us they get out, the less power we have … Our broader demand is the vacant units be prepared and rented out immediately.”
The empty suites pose other worries for her.
“As tenants, it’s actually unsafe to have so many empty units. We’re experiencing a higher amount of mice and cockroaches, and we think it’s directly related to the empty units. Some of the empty units are full of debris, balconies full of debris.” Krempulec acknowledged there is an unusually high number of vacant units in the buildings. But there were structural issues with the buildings that needed to be tended to first, along with a backlog of work orders for tenant suites.
“Before we can turn our focus over to getting the vacant units ready to rent out, we had to prioritize fixing the structural and life safety projects. We spent the first year, before even looking at individual units, doing a few things, one addressing a significant backlog of work orders from existing residents,” she said.
That has included working to replace the heating and hot-water systems in the buildings and bringing in a state-of-the-art boiler, custom-made for West Lodge, Krempulec said. Fire, life safety and electrical systems were also serviced, and the eight elevators in the two buildings were replaced.
“When we bought the buildings, two out of eight elevators were operational,” Krempulec said. “We’re talking about two highrise buildings, so that’s just unacceptable.”
Heat risers (pipes) are also being replaced in both buildings, work that includes opening up drywall in units.
“Unfortunately it’s a very intrusive project, but it absolutely needs to get done to address heating and hot water,” Krempulec said. “And the entire system needs to be replaced. It’s about 18,000 feet of pipes (shared) between the two buildings, and it requires having to go into the units.
“The risers run on stacks. We are doing that in units currently occupied, but it needs to be done in vacant units as well. And so we have to prioritize getting that work done … before these (vacant) units can be ready.
“So we’re in the middle of that work right now. The work has stops and starts, and we need resident co-operation in order to be allowed entry into their units and address the piping that happens to reside behind their walls. So it’s an undertaking.”
COVID-19, she said, has delayed some of the work.
Webber believes there are other concerning signs about the intentions of the owners.
According to Landlord and Tenant Board case dockets from early 2019 obtained by Parkdale Community Legal
Services, nine tenants had eviction hearings initiated by Timbercreek in the week of Jan 1418 last year, 19 tenants faced eviction hearings the week of Feb. 4-8, and there were another 16 eviction hearings March 25-29.
“I believe these dockets corroborate Timbercreek’s intentional legal action against West Lodge tenants to evict them and obtain vacant units,” Webber said. “Timbercreek cannot characterize every move-out as voluntary when they have actively litigated to evict so many tenants.
“And this is only documentation of three weeks of hearings in early 2019.”
Timbercreek counters that, in most cases, a payment resolution is reached well before a final eviction is processed.
“Since we took over West Lodge in the fall of 2018, there have been 22 evictions. Evictions are a very long process and are often the result of many months of unpaid rent and arrears,” the company said.
Webber said a quote a few years back from Timbercreek CEO Blair Tamblyn points to the company’s desire to change the demographics at West Lodge.
In an online report from 2015, Tamblyn commented on a multi-residential, value-added fund launched by Timbercreek in the U.S. for nearly $100 million, saying, “On the front end, you put in a multi-(residential) asset that, in our view, has not been operated to its fullest potential, and about two and a half years later, it comes out the other end looking squeaky clean and ready for an institutional buyer to acquire it.”
Webber called it “a way of describing the process of social cleansing and the displacing of low-income tenants.
When asked about Tamblyn’s quote and how it might apply to West Lodge, Krempulec said investments are being made to “support and engage with West Lodge residents so we can meaningfully contribute to the community.”
She said the company has hired a full-time community liaison to engage with tenants.
“Our community liaison is out at West Lodge on a weekly basis delivering fresh food to the doors of residents we believe or have identified as being in need of support for food. Either seniors, isolated, physically or financially or (individuals who are) challenged accessing fresh food.
“We have a ton of initiatives (at West Lodge) that we are really proud of, including launching a community hub space we have donated to the community. So a really important thirdparty service provider can come right into the West Lodge community and provide much needed supports to residents.
“We believe that as a longterm investor we are part of the community, and it is our responsibility to continue to make sure it’s a great place to live for residents who call West Lodge home.”