Quote:
Originally Posted by durandy
I'd also think the expropriation rate would be market value, not the price the ballet company got it at, which seemed like a charitable donation.
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Yeah, digging into it, it gets muddier. The city definitely got soaked, but not by the ballerinas. To be fair, the CBC story doesn't offer much detail on Hamilton's contributions and considerations. It also fudges the purchase date: Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble acquired it for $1 in August 2006(not 2004), and FWIW the ballet company also issued a $550K charitable tax receipt to the Snidermans.
The building was reportedly tax-exempt from 2001-2006, and the City had apparently been in negotiations with the Snidermans to repair and preserve the Tiv prior to the partial cave-in. From CATCH, August 2004:
"We were in discussions and the Sniderman family were asking for well in excess of $2 million in a tax receipt for a building that was assessed at $500,000." The city had apparently been angling for the same kind of charitable deal that the CYBE got.
In 2005, the City settled a dispute with the family over the outstanding $500K+ bill for emergency shoring and demolition costs related to the June 29, 2004 south wall collapse that led to the oldest part of the building -- the 1874 carriage factory and the 1908 lobby, not the 1924 theatre --
being later razed by the City in the fall of 2004. The theatre apparently has provincial heritage status.