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Councillor says city must act on vacant downtown properties
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian
23/01/09

Coun. Rob Lantz says the City of Charlottetown needs to act on the number of vacant properties in the downtown core.
The city approved a height variance request from Homburg Invest Inc. on Thursday, which paves the way for a proposed $45-million, three-phase development to go ahead.
Homburg is moving ahead with plans to construct an eight-storey office building on Fitzroy Street, a 10-storey hotel on Grafton Street and major renovations to the interior and exterior of Confederation Court Mall.
Lantz said if Homburg is going to show that much faith in downtown Charlottetown the city corporation should help mitigate the risk by making sure the core is firing on all cylinders.
“That can’t happen when a significant number of important buildings are left empty and in such a state of disrepair that they can’t even be leased, even if the owner was prepared to lease them,’’ Lantz said.
“We need to engage the owner of these properties, along with the two other levels of government and the business community, and find a way to get these spaces back in the market, whatever that takes.’’
Homburg has launched a $5-million lawsuit against Nemir Tweel Corp. Ltd., Christopher Tweel and two companies identified only as 2950243 Canada Inc. and 100946 P.E.I. Inc., all which own a number of properties in the downtown, alleging the properties are rundown and affect the developer’s current business (Confederation Court Mall) and what they are currently planning to do.
“If the owners are unwilling to make the necessary investments, perhaps
they should sell instead of sitting on these properties. They’re too important to sit empty.’’