Taxpayers on the hook as condo project collapses

Hamilton taxpayers appear to be out $1.1 million with the collapse of a downtown condo conversion project.

Lawyer Ron Weston, hired to deal with the receivership of Trinity Landing, the 50-unit redevelopment of the former Spectator printing plant at King William and Catharine streets, surprised city councillors yesterday by telling them the receiver was before a judge in Toronto at that hour seeking approval to sell the unfinished building for $2 million.

The loan went to an Ontario numbered company represented by Harsuk (Harry) Ganatra of Ancaster. Mumbai-based ICICI Bank holds a $5-million mortgage, and Weston said the receiver is owed close to $1 million, leaving little prospect of the city recovering any of the $1.1 million advanced on a $1.2-million downtown residential incentive loan secured by a second mortgage.