First there was the fire. Then a sudden evacuation. Now, owners of a condemned Edmonton condo building are contending with a major flood that could derail efforts to sell the structurally flawed building.
Owners of Castledowns Pointe learned last week that on the night of Jan. 20, a water pipe burst in the basement, damaging the boiler room, crawl space and elevator shaft.
It’s the latest bad news for financially-strained owners of the building that has sat vacant for nearly 2½ years because of dangerous structural flaws.
Condo board president Susan Strebchuk said it feels like owners can’t catch a break.
“Every time we get close to the sale going to close, then something else happens,” said Strebchuk, noting that the burst pipe filled parts of the basement with upwards of two metres of water.
“Just the sheer amount of water that poured into our mechanical boiler room was mind-boggling.”
The flood complicates an already-delayed deal to sell the troubled property to Edmonton-based construction company Cormode and Dickson Construction Ltd.
Cormode has made an unconditional offer of $6.25 million on the 83-unit property. But the court-sanctioned sale, originally expected to close in November, has faced repeated delays.
The future of the deal hinges on the extent of the damage done.
The purchase contract includes a clause that allows the buyer to back out if the property sustains “material damage” after court approval but before the closing date. The clause only comes into play if the cost of repairs is determined to be more than $500,000.
The condo board’s lawyer, Hugh Willis, said it’s unknown if the damage will derail the deal. The board is working with contractors to prepare a report detailing estimating the cost of repairs.
“We need the engineers to chime in about their requirements for the scope of work and that will dictate pricing,” he said.
Willis said the full estimate on damages likely won’t be available until later this week.
The need to assess the flood damage has put the corporation in the “undesirable but unavoidable” position of having to postpone the closing date again, Willis said.
Officials with Cormode were not available for comment, but have previously said they were eager to close the deal.
Lawyers for both sides have agreed to a new closing date of Feb. 28, Willis said.
Contingency plans
It’s the third time closing has been delayed.
Cormode’s unconditional offer was formally accepted in the Court of King’s Bench during a hearing in last October but the company has since asked for repeated extensions, the latest of which had pushed the closing date to Jan. 31.
The condo board has been granted court approval to pursue contingency plans if the sale falls through. It plans to relist the property immediately if the deal fails to close, Willis said.
“We’re certainly working in good faith,” he said. “We have our contingencies lined up. We’re hoping we don’t have to use them.”
Castledowns Pointe, constructed in 1999, has sat vacant since September 2023 when owners were ordered to leave their homes over concerns the building could collapse.
Dangerous structural flaws with the building’s construction were discovered following a fire in March 2023 that destroyed the roof and ripped through the fourth floor.
The flaws were not related to the fire. The condo board — and then the city — ordered all residents to leave their homes.
Owners decided in January 2024 to sell, rather than undertake repairs that were expected to cost more than $7 million.
Strebchuk said the condo board remains cautiously optimistic the deal will still close, despite the now-delayed closing date.
She said the first contractors to arrive on site have suggested that the damages will not exceed the $500,000 threshold.
While the next steps for owners remain murky, she hopes that the hardships that former building residents face lead to new protections for condo owners across the province.
Even after a completed sale, owners would continue to face crippling debts associated with the loss of their homes.
“We have to live with the knowledge that really no one is taking responsibility,” Strebchuk said. “And we’re going to walk away with just pennies on the dollar.
“We all would hope that this never happens to anybody else.”