'Somebody has been trying to stop this': Building owner says offer was made to block drug-use site
John Bellone co-owner says she was offered a 'ridiculous' price for the York Street property
The co-owner of a York Street property re-zoned to become a permanent supervised drug-use site says she was approached with a purchase offer of more than double the building's market value and said the offer came with one condition: that plans for the drug-use site be scrapped.
"Somebody has been trying to stop this right from the beginning, that much I can tell you,' said Moira Hamel-Smith, who along with husband John Bellone owns 446 York St.
Hamel-Smith says a real estate agent approached her in person representing an unnamed client willing to pay up to $800,000 for the building where the family's music store was located. She said she was approached about two months after the intent to lease was signed with MLHU in April 2018.
She said the price is "ridiculous for that property" and said the agent was clear that the offer was contingent upon her breaking a deal signed with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) to lease the site for use as a supervised consumption facility.
"It's becoming very clear to us that somebody is working behind the scenes and back-room dealing," she said. Hamel-Smith said she's gone public with news of the offer to highlight the efforts underway to block the drug use site.
"What's that they say? Sunshine is the best disinfectant," she said.
Hamel-Smith couldn't remember the name of the agent who she says presented her with a verbal purchase offer. She said the agent worked for DTZ, a commercial real estate brokerage purchased by Cushman & Wakefield in 2015.
Brent Rudell is the broker of record at Cushman & Wakefield's southwest branch in London. He said he wasn't aware of any purchase offer presented by any of his agents for 446 York St. but said he's generally only made aware of offers when they firm up into signed purchase agreements.
Hamel-Smith said she and her husband turned down the offer. She said they instead want to go ahead with the lease with MLHU, saying it makes good business sense and that a supervised consumption facility is badly needed in a neigbhourhood hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Hamel-Smith's report of the mega-offer is the latest in an ongoing imbroglio over the move to get a permanent safe consumption site in London, one that has stretched from London City Hall to Queen's Park.
Consumption sites allow people to consume illicit drugs under medical supervision as a way to prevent fatal overdoses and limit the spread of disease.
On Monday, the province rejected funding for the site at 446 York St.
Issue raised at Queen's Park
London North Centre NDP MPP Terrance Kernaghan accused the Doug Ford government of "backroom deals" to delay a site he says will save lives.
During question period yesterday, Kernaghan accused Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott of bowing to lobbying efforts in blocking the site. However, in an interview on CBC's London Morning, Elliott said the current temporary drug use site on King Street better fits the province's criteria for drug use sites.
"[Lobbying] is not something that we take into consideration," said Elliott.
London's chief medical officer Chris Mackie said MLHU must now seek out another funding source for 446 York St., locate another location, or find a way to make the King Street location work.
He said the removal of provincial funding for 446 York St. comes after two years of exhaustive site searches and extensive public consultation.
"It's unlikely that we do find something else that fits at this point, but we will certainly look," he said.