|
Fez Batik Homeless shelter costs spiral out of control
Surprise surprise... the wonderfully corrupt fez batik homeless shelter is costing more and more money. Cant wait till they sell it to condo developers. I give the shelter a year or two at most before its torn down to make way for condos.
| quote: |
Shelter cost balloons to $10M
City bought old nightclub for $4.6M and has been paying through the nose ever since
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 2nd December 2009, 5:05am
At a cost of $250,000 a bed there ought to be mints on the pillows at the new Entertainment District homeless shelter.
With little fanfare Toronto city council pumped another $1 million into the now-almost-$10-million, yet-to-open Peter St. shelter.
Quick math shows the $10-million cost to buy and renovate the 40-bed shelter works out to around $250,000 per bed without factoring in the annual cost to operate it.
The shelter was the site of a defunct Entertainment District nightclub that council bought back in 2007 for an eye-popping -- even to local developers -- $4.7 million.
Since then, the $3-million construction tab to renovate the club into a shelter and referral centre has gone up, hitting $4.93 million Monday when, without debate, councillors agreed to add an extra $1 million to the construction cost on top of the $1 million added over the summer.
The shelter is now set to open in March but the operating cost has yet to be determined. Based on the 2009 operating budget, the 24/7 shelter was expected to have a net cost of $2.5 million a year.
Councillor Doug Holyday, who railed against the original site purchase, was dismayed at the cost of the project.
"I guess you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound," Holyday said last night. "We probably could have built two shelters for that kind of money out of the city core.
"Words can't describe what that is," he said. "We would have been better off buying some condos somewhere, and they wouldn't be low end ... they'd probably be very decent for $250,000 a piece."
According to the staff report that went to city council, the extra cash was needed for sanitary and storm water system repairs, foundation work, and asbestos and mould abatement. Staff also stated the existing roof parapet walls were "in imminent danger of collapse and required emergency repairs."
The remaining work includes completing the stairway to the rooftop smoking area along with more security systems, flooring, drywall, doors and windows.
Patricia Anderson, manager of partnership development for shelter services, stressed site conditions encountered after the renovation started and the addition of extra features by council raised the cost.
One costly decision was a $500,000 elevator, added after the original purchase order. |
___________________
| quote: | Originally posted by jester
Everything in this country is illegal. |
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill
|
