Contractor at centre of massive lawsuit by City of Winnipeg asking for refund on fine
Caspian Construction owner asks city to refund $35,000 charge for empty building
The contractor at the centre of a massive lawsuit involving renovations to Winnipeg Police Service headquarters wants the city to refund a $35,000 fine he received for a property he owns at 2233 McGillivray Boulevard.
The city slapped the fine on Armik Babakhanians' company, Jags Development Ltd., for allowing the building to remain empty.
The building was inspected six times since 2015; the most recent in July of 2021. Ultimately the city's fire prevention officers declared the building vacant.
The $35,000 the contractor was charged is based on a calculation of one per cent of the value of the building.
The empty building fees became part of the city's by-laws last year.
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Pamela Anderson came to Wednesday's meeting of the city's property, planning and development committee to speak on behalf of Babakhanians. She has been identified in the past as the office manager for Caspian Construction and she and her company, Triple D Consulting Services, are named in the city's lawsuit regarding the headquarters project.
A notice of motion filed in January 2020 in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench by several of the defendants, including Anderson and her company, asserts that even if the city's claims are true, the facts laid out in the lawsuit don't support the city's accusations.
Anderson, who has worked as the officer manager for Caspian, told the councillors the company has struggled to lease out the building because of recent economic conditions, but acknowledged it had been used mostly for storage from 2015 to 2019.
"As a landlord we are finding it very difficult to lease our properties. This property in particular, we had had two leases established in early 2019. Well, the pandemic hit and our two tenants backed out," Anderson told the committee.
The building has office space and a portion dedicated to warehouse/storage.
After some questions for the public service, councillors on the committee voted unanimously to decline the request by Babakhanians for the rebate of the fee.