The developer who had hoped to build a $140-milion project on the site of the former Grace Hospital is now taking legal action against the City of Windsor.
A Notice of Application, filed on behalf of Fairmount Properties, by Gardiner Roberts LLP, lawyer Gavin Tighe, and lawyer Alexander Melhi, alleges Fairmount had no choice but to pursue legal action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after the city quashed the project late last year in a closed-door meeting.
The mixed-use development was announced in 2020 with much fanfare, promising hundreds of new residential units, retail, restaurants, and medical facilities.
As late as last November, the Global Village project appeared to be moving ahead. Fairmount Properties had signed affiliation agreements with the University of Windsor and St. Clair College to co-market the development as student housing for 500 students. It signed a Letter of Intent with a major operator of healthcare practice groups.
Barely two weeks later, the project was dead.
"Fairmount had an agent in Windsor on its behalf," said Mayor Drew Dilkens following the city council meeting in December. "A lot of the pre-work could've already been done even with the border closed. It didn't happen."
Fairmount's legal action alleges the city "unilaterally, without notice, and in bad faith terminated the agreement." The developer says it had no opportunity to present its case to city councillors.
If it had, it might have pointed out the city and Fairmount had a binding and enforceable Letter of Intent to sell the Crawford Avenue property to Fairmount no later than December 29, 2023, and that any delays, according to the Notice of Application, were caused by Windsor.
The legal action says Fairmount was "ambushed" by the December 1 decision to exit the agreement, causing the developer "irreparable" harm to its reputation in Ontario and Canada. Fairmount fears the council's decision and "erroneous and defamatory" narrative in the media "falsely accusing Fairmount of delay when Fairmount was in full compliance with the timetable" will discourage other municipalities from partnering with it on future projects.
"The project (which had the full support of St. Clair College and the University of Windsor) was in fact terminated by the city in favour of some new and, still to this day, undisclosed purpose," read a release from Fairmount. "The real reasons for the city's actions and the false statements by Mayor Dilkens and other members of council leading to this lawsuit remain undisclosed."
During an interview with WindsorNewsToday.ca, Dilkens said the agreement, which he characterized as a Memorandum of Understanding and not as a Letter of Intent, was non-binding.
Councillor Renaldo Agostino later told other media outlets other developers were interested in the property, suggesting the city breached confidentiality expressed in the Letter of Intent.
The action does not seek damages but demands the City of Windsor to quash its resolution and resume negotiations in good faith.