Toronto learned lessons from mould and other problems that boosted the cost of converting a Kingston Rd. motel into a homeless shelter by $3.2 million, and it won’t happen again, city staff say.City councillors on the new government services and licensing committee lightly grilled bureaucrats Monday over what inspections were done on a Comfort Inn before the city agreed to pay $7.8 million in 2016 for the property and commit another $8.7 million to covert it to a city shelter.The city didn’t realize the expensive structural problems, and others related to mould and rodent damage, until crews took down walls, city staff told committee members. The extra costs pushed the total price tag of converting the 30,000-square-foot building near Bellamy Rd. to about $20 million.Staff said they hired an engineering firm to do a building condition assessment, and another on soil conditions, but the owner would not allow them to do more invasive testing behind walls because it was a functioning motel with guests coming and going.“There were no outward signs of these issues,” and past renovations might have helped make the significant problems less apparent, councillors were told.City staff argued the total cost remains cheaper than if the city had to build the shelter from scratch, but said better risk assessments have been done on subsequently purchased properties when thorough testing of a structure is not possible.Read more:Mould, rodents, fire safety issues add $3.2M to shelter costEditorial: Ford’s cuts to provincial grants are shortsighted360Kids gets funding boost to counter youth homelessness in York RegionCouncillor John Filion said he still has questions about the ballooning cost and wondered if the city could have saved money by subdividing the 65,000-square-foot lot.“Rebuilding a property at a total cost of more than $20 million, most of which is for construction, at this kind of density on Kingston Rd. doesn’t make a lot ...
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