Manager wanted guarantee to fix Elliot Lake mall

A former senior manager with Algoma Central Properties says the company considered selling the now-demolished Elliot Lake mall more than a decade ago.

On Wednesday, Robert Leistner, general manager and vice president with Algoma Central Properties, told the commission looking into the mall’s fatal roof collapse that the owner of the building didn't have a realistic option to fix the roof and eventually wanted out.

Evidence submitted at the inquiry showed Leistner knew as far back as 1991 that leaking at the mall was compromising the structural integrity of the building.

"We believed degradation was occurring and that, over time, it would affect it," Leistner said, adding he never saw a realistic option to fix the problem.

"There was no physical way we could put a membrane on that roof."

Commission lawyer Peter Doody showed several recommendations Trow Engineering made to Algoma Central to fix the roof, but Leistner said he believed, at that time, those options would further compromise the stability of the parking deck.

He wanted Trow to guarantee that the $1.5 million repair job would stop the leaking — a request Doody found hard to fathom.

"Did you really expect that a professional engineer would give you a contractual guarantee that the repair method they recommended would work?"

Algoma Central Properties eventually sold the mall to Retirement Living in 1999.

The leaks at the mall still hadn't been fixed.