The Vandyk name continues to crop up in Ontario court filings as receivers take next steps, ranging from wrapping up construction on projects that have been left in a lurch — like we saw with the Lakeview DXE Club project in Mississauga — to offloading them to the highest bidder, as was the case with the King’s Mill site in South Etobicoke.
Most recently, it appears that a buyer has been found for a commercial property at 10 Neighbourhood Lane — also under the Vandyk umbrella. It’s worth noting that the site, owned by a single-purpose real estate company called Vandyk-Backyard Humberside, is just a stone’s throw away from the King’s Mill site, which is at 15 Neighbourhood Lane. While King’s Mill is in its final development phase, the two-storey Backyard Humberside property is completed and tenanted.
According to a July 25 motion, the receiver msi Spergel Inc. is petitioning the court to approve the sale of the Backyard Humberside property — both the land and the building — to Supertrin Commercial Properties Inc.
The funds from the transactions, the motion says, would go towards any outstanding taxes and costs to complete the administration of the receivership, including $98,283 in professional fees and $24,167 in lawyers fees.
After those disbursements, the receiver is proposing “an interim distribution” that would include around $10,572,528 to Home Trust Company (the primary lender), $1,267,416 to Kay Family Investments Inc., and $474,792 to the City of Toronto for any outstanding realty tax arrears. Those amounts don’t include interest.
The receiver’s motion is set to be heard by a judge on August 14.
The Sales Process
The July 25 motion explains that, after the receivership order went into effect, msi Spergel obtained two valuations of the 10 Neighbourhood Lane property, including one from Colliers and another from Antec Appraisal Group. The receiver also obtained listing proposals from Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International, and CBRE, and thereafter opted to list the property with Cushman & Wakefield per an agreement entered into on April 11.
Cushman & Wakefield’s “active marketing” resulted in the signing of 48 non-disclosure agreements, three tours, and eight offers throughout the sales process.
Supertrin entered into an Agreement of Purchase and Sale on June 14, however, the court filings are careful to say that the purchase agreement “is conditional upon, among other things, court approval.” The purchase amount has not been withheld in the filings.
The Receivership
The receivership order over Vandyk-Backyard Humberside and 10 Neighbourhood Lane was granted by the courts on March 5 on the basis of an outstanding non-revolving bridge loan in the principal amount of $10M, which was extended by Home Trust Company on April 28, 2020.
As security for the loan, the debtor agreed to a general assignment of rents, and also agreed in writing that the lender would be entitled to pursue a receivership order in the event of default.
By March 4, which is when Home Trust Company made their pleas to the Ontario courts for receivership, Vandyk-Backyard Humberside had been in default of the loan for some six months (from September 1 2023 onward), and owed some $10,145,007. In addition to that sum, it appears that a $2M mortgage was registered on title to the property in favour of Kay Family Investments Inc. (registered on July 11, 2019), $2M in favour of 2233651 Ontario Limited (registered on October 11, 2019), and $1.15M in favour of Haleemah Muhammad (registered on August 21, 2023).
A $9,473 construction lien was registered by Live Patrol Inc. against the property on November 22, 2023.
STOREYS has reached out to Vandyk for comment on the proceedings, but has not received a response by the time of publication.
