Development on former Knotty Pine site nearing completion, despite hiccups
Extensive renovations at the former Knotty Pine restaurant building are almost complete, despite city-driven cost overruns and delays, according to the building’s owner.
Jack Hougasian, who purchased the property at 115 Fountain St. S. in 2021 for $2.9 million, believes his TechHi Consultants business will be able to move into the building come summer after gutting the inside to change the doors, windows, roof, electrical, plumbing, HVAC system and flooring. The walls and ceiling were also fortified.
Despite the changes, the bar, fireplace mantle and disco ball will remain.
But don’t expect any dining opportunities in the new building. Hougasian decided his original idea of a restaurant on the first floor of the building wasn’t the way to go and is keeping the entire space for his company.
“We want the whole building; it’s gonna be our head office,” Hougasian said, adding the project is about 85 per cent complete.
“We want it to be a funky place for our people, our employees, to be able to relax, have a good time. The visuals are incredible. When you look at it, it’s windows on all sides, so you can see the river, you can see Fountain Street. You get a ton of natural light coming in. It really gives you a good vibe.”
Hougasian has said in the past the purchase of the building was an emotional decision instead of a business decision. When they started renovations, the space became everything he envisioned. As an expanding company, why not use all the space themselves?
Not everything has been smooth sailing. Finishing work on the building has proven difficult, Hougasian said, due to what he considers overreach by the city’s planning department. He said he has had instances where a building permit has been issued for a phase of the project and construction has commenced, but the planning department has changed the terms after the fact, making him go back and alter what has been built.
One of the changes irked him was receiving a building permit to raise the northeast corner of the building to bring it to street level with the rest of the building. After it was built up and finished — three months later, he said — the city told him he would have to bring it back to the original level. That part of the building has now been removed. He said the build up and tear down cost about $70,000.
Hougasian added that once a retaining wall is put in that spot and drainage diverted away from the low spot, the tab will be more than $100,000.
On top of that, he has to have fire shutters added to the building to protect other businesses from a fire. The shutters, he said, face the sidewalk on Fountain Street. That’s another $21,000.
“There’s no logic behind it with the city. When they say something, they don’t have to explain to you why they want you to do it. You’re doing it or they stop construction,” Hougasian said. “We’re spending a lot of money on this project and we’re going to revitalize that corner of downtown Preston, where people are going to be safe to walk there, and it’s going to look good and all of that. They should bend over backwards to get us to the finish line, and they haven’t. They’ve been a bit of a nuisance.”
Tanya Gies, the city’s chief building official, said she was familiar with the renovation at the former Knotty Pine site and said there have been some instances where what has happened on site doesn’t match the approved plans.
“I know he’s very frustrated and I get it, when stuff is seemingly popping up as they’re progressing, and it seems like it’s far enough along in the project. But really, that is a part of our role,” Gies said, adding the city not only has to make sure the renovation is meeting the Ontario building code, but they also act as site inspectors once work begins.
“Strictly speaking, if every construction project went ahead and everything was done exactly in compliance with what was on the plans, there shouldn’t ever be an issue.”
Gies acknowledged code requirements are complicated and it’s not a simple path to try and understand what is expected. She said the good thing is he has an architect to speak to, to come up with a solution that meets minimum standards.
The objective of the building division is to help people through the process, Gies said, because business owners generally don’t know what the building requirements are and how to meet them.
“We do all have the same goal, as we want to see this business get in, we want to see this project get wrapped up and get completed. But if we do identify something as an issue, it’s a health and life safety issue. We want to get them there, but we have to make sure it does meet all those standards.”
‘‘ We want it to be a funky place for our people, our employees, to be able to relax, have a good time.
JACK HOUGASIAN OWNER OF THE FORMER KNOTTY PINE PROPERTY