Suspicious early morning fire destroys condo development in Kilbride

A condominium building that was being built on Bay Bulls Road in the Kilbride neighbourhood of St. John's has been destroyed by fire.

Fire crews were first called to the Parkview Condos construction site at 40 Bay Bulls Rd. around 2:30 a.m., but were unable to save the building. There were no injuries, but several homes in the area were evacuated for about an hour as a precaution.

The development, owned by B.A. Tucker Ltd., was to contain 14 condo units. One of the units had already been sold and five more were to be finalized on Monday, the day of the fire, according to real estate agent Nevin Hollett, who's handling sales.

He said while the interior had not yet been completed, potential buyers were able to view the space and each unit was being sold for between $189,000 and $199,000.

Deemed suspicious

The RNC said early Monday morning the fire appeared to be suspicious and investigators would be on the scene later in the day. 

Platoon Chief Brian Tucker of the St. John's Regional Fire Department said the building was a complete loss.

"The intensity of the fire, whether it was occupied or not, was very great," he said. "There was no chance of an interior attack by us at all; the structure was fully involved, which was probably due to it being under construction. There wasn't a lot done on the inside so it was pretty open."

By 7:30 a.m, the fire was extinguished, but traffic was being detoured away from the area, through Old Petty Harbour Road, to prevent vehicles from driving over water hoses. At 11:40 a.m. the RNC said Bay Bulls Road had reopened.