Leduc, Alta., condo developer has checkered financial past
Belleavera Green condos evacuated for safety violations
The developer of an evacuated condo complex in Leduc, Alta., has a long history of legal problems, CBC News has learned.
Court documents show Kevyn Frederick, also known as Kevyn Sheldon Frederick, Kevin Ronald Frederick and several other aliases, is a businessman with a checkered financial past.
On Thursday fire officials ordered residents to leave the Bellavera Green condominiums by Mar. 31 for safety concerns.
Safety-code deficiencies include a faulty fire alarm system, unsafe fire access route, an open and unsecured construction site, and a condemned exterior stairwell which threatened fire protection and building services such as a high-pressure gas main.
Condo owners told CBC News the developer has abandoned the building.
Documents show Frederick took over Bellavera Green from builder Ram Singh.
Singh claims his name was forged on land transfer documents and says he had no intention of transferring title to Frederick and his partners until they paid him $10 million, which he has yet to receive.
Frederick bought Chateau Lacombe
CBC has also learned that Frederick, who runs his multi-million dollar business out of a rented mailbox at a UPS store on Whyte Avenue, borrowed more than $32 million in 2010 to buy the iconic Chateau Lacombe, now the Crowne Plaza, in downtown Edmonton.
In November, the hotel fell into receivership with Frederick owing the entire amount, plus nearly $9,000 a day in interest.
Frederick is also being sued by owners in a Fort MacMurray condo building after their reserve fund went missing.
This lawsuit accuses Frederick of "embezzlement, unauthorized misappropriation and secret misdirection" of $268,000.
That means the condo owners are now responsible for the cost of future maintenance and repairs, said their lawyer Robert Noce.
"Ultimately that's why the corporation, the condominium corporation, decided to go after this individual," he said. "It was such a blatant abuse of process, it was such a blatant abuse in terms of misappropriation of funds."
A court document shows Frederick borrowed nearly $1.7 million from an Edmonton bank to develop the building, but defaulted on the loan, leaving the condo in receivership.