Cancelled Icona condo developer’s application to build on same site clears Vaughan committee

Thestar.com
July 2, 2019
Tess Kalinowski

Gupta Group can officially proceed with its application to build another project on the site of the cancelled Icona towers at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

On Thursday, the city’s committee of adjustment gave the company the green light on 15 minor variances that allow it to move forward on a condo-hotel-townhouse development that is similar to the one it cancelled last September. It wants to build 1,649 homes and a convention facility with underground parking on the site.

The Vaughan committee had refused to consider the variances earlier this year -- including a reduction in the number of required parking spaces and the ground-floor commercial component of the project -- because the land was subject to a restrictive covenant that prohibited Gupta from building homes on the property.

Earlier this month, the numbered company that held the covenant and owns adjoining property informed the city that the issue had been resolved.

Icona buyers, who had their deposits refunded, remain furious, saying Gupta, which also operates under Easton’s Hotels, should not have sold them homes when the property was governed by the covenant. They say they have been left behind on the property ladder and now Gupta will likely sell their home ownership dreams to other consumers for more money.

Gupta did not respond to the Star’s request for comment late Friday afternoon.

Patricia DeBartolo, one of the organizers of an Icona buyers’ Facebook group, said their experience should be a warning to preconstruction condo buyers.

She said Gupta should have disclosed the restrictive covenant to the city when it applied to develop the property at Highway 7 and Interchange Way, the site of a Hilton Garden Inn that will be demolished to make way for the new complex.

“I hope people think twice before they choose to entrust their hopes, dreams and money in the hands of this particular dream-seller,” she said, urging other consumers to do their homework and research whether their builder is experienced and trustworthy.

There was nothing to warn Icona buyers, she said.

The provincial builder regulator Tarion does not yet flag cancellations on its website -- something that is supposed to change this summer.

Icona buyer Rob Paniccia wants to know why Vaughan doesn’t issue penalties for a developer’s failure to disclose something as crucial as the restrictive covenant.

“Something should have been done about that,” Paniccia told the Star.

The Icona site plans call for two 55-storey towers and a third 46-storey building. The company has also filed an application to build another three towers at Yonge St. and Steeles Ave.