One of the worst residential buildings in the city is finally getting a reno.
The slab tower, 1011 Lansdowne at the corner of Dupont, has
long been recognized by the media, the
police and neighbourhood residents as a bad place. With an absentee landlord (living in Montreal), it's given city workers a heck of a time, too.
"This building has been an issue for many, many years," says the ward's councillor,
Ana Bailão. "It had a lot of orders to comply over the years."
With apartment doors that don't close and drug paraphernalia in the stairwell, 1011 Lansdowne has needed all manner of physical improvements. But protocols, apparently, are protocols, and they can't be rushed.
"Anything with MLS [Municipal Standards and Licensing] takes a long time," Bailão says. "MLS goes in, gives people the order, then takes people to court, then they do a little bit of work, then we have to go back. That's basically the process."
The councillor says she was especially interested in securing some improvements, since the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (
CAMH) rents several units for its patients.
Work on individual units started a couple of years ago, when the ward was represented by
Adam Giambrone, but work has only recently started on the exterior.
According to Bailão, the cladding is being repaired, windows re-caulked.
Though there are still outstanding work orders relating to the inside of the building, the exterior work is meant to be done by the end of the year.
Bailão estimates the value of the exterior work at $1 million.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ana Bailão
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