More than two years after the condo conversion craze took hold, those who bought into the buildings tell nightmare stories of buildings gone bad while others tell of neighbourhood turnaround. Reporter David Hutton zeroes in on one project that has divided owners and also gathers opinions on condo conversions.
It was raining in January.
The ceiling of Reid Towsley’s apartment-style condominium was leaking, water dripping down steadily onto the floor.
The 25-year-old electronics technologist moved into the west-end condo with his partner, Jodi Cadman, 24, a week before Christmas.
Like many of the people who invested in converted apartment buildings, it’s their first home. They were encouraged to buy a condo in the building because it was “like new,” Towsley says, sitting in his living room last week.
“We were told when we looked at it that everything was like new, so what can go wrong?” he says.
“Well, a lot can go wrong.”
A month after moving in, Towsley noticed water dripping in the spare-bedroom closet. Over the course of five minutes it got worse, spreading throughout the suite.
Standing in the second-floor unit, Towsley points up to the gaping three-foot hole contractors cut in the drywall ceiling to determine the cause.
via ‘A lot can go wrong’.
