Saturday, October 12, 2019

Are the following buildings "worthless real property"?

Skyline Towers - 1400 Merivale Road, Ottawa. The national headquarters for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The towers were built on former Central Experimental Farm land.
Harry Hays Building - 220 4th Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta.
Douglas Jung Building, 401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Canada Place - 9700 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta.
Sinclair Centre - 757 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Canada Revenue Agency - 305 Rene-Levesque Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec.
Joseph Shepard Building, 4900 Yonge Street. North York, Ontario.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building, 90 Sparks Street, Ottawa.
RCMP Headquarters - 4225 Dorchester Blvd., Westmount, Quebec.
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During the year 2007 Federal Minister of Public Works Michael Fortier sold several government buildings to a Vancouver-based company called Larco investments.This is how Michael Fortier described the real estate portfolio to a House of Commons committee:
     "I do not know how you came up with this $1.2 billion dollar shortfall, Ms. Bourgeois. It is not a shortfall, it is a surplus. What is more, at the end of 25 years taxpayers will not have to deal with what they have been dealing with for decades and that is worthless real property." (House of Commons Evidence - OGGO Committee, December 10, 2007.)
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There was widespread opposition to the privatization of the government buildings, see the YouTube video "PSAC National President John Gordon delivers speech". 
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(The above mentioned buildings were "reversionary" properties, meaning that they reverted to the people of Canada after 35 years. At the end of 25 years, either Larco or another private company will own the Skyline Towers, Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building, etc.
 I found the above document in a 1985 book at Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street in Ottawa.---savecfbrockcliffe)
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Michael Fortier, 2006: "The average age of the office space is approximately 44 years and several properties have reached their life expectancy."
In September of 2006 PWGSC Minister Michael Fortier conducted a study of 35 GOC properties. This is what happened to the portfolio:
1.)  Sir John Carling Building, 930 Carling Avenue, Ottawa - demolished.
2.)  Fairmont RCMP Complex - 4949 Heather Street, Vancouver, British Columbia - recently sold.
3.)  Tunney's Pasture Complex, Ottawa.
4.)  National Film Board Headquarters - 3155 Cote-de-Liesse, Montreal - The Norman McLaren Building is now vacant and will likely be demolished. Norman McLaren was a producer and artist who won an American Academy Award.
5.)  Lester B. Pearson Building-125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa.
6.)  Sir William Logan Building - Booth Street, Ottawa. Most of the Natural Resources Canada campus has been transferred to Canada Lands Company. Many buildings will be flattened and the ones that remain will be subjected to "Facadism" an architectural term that means only the facade of a building is preserved.
7.)  Dominion Building, One Front Street West, Toronto - sold to Larco.
8.)  Skyline Towers, Ottawa - sold to Larco.
9.)  Harry Hays Building- Calgary - sold to Larco.
10.) Canada Place, Edmonton - sold to Larco.
11.) Taxation Data Centre - 875 Heron Road, Ottawa. The entire Confederation Heights employment campus will be taken over by the National Capital Commission and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PWGSC).
(work in progress)
Hank LeClair, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Health Minister John Munro were in the Brooke Claxton Building, 70 Columbine Driveway, Tunney's Pasture, Ottawa.









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