'Frustrating and unacceptable': Moxness gets earful from council for derelict properties

City council has approved zoning changes that will make way for a five-storey, 47-unit apartment building on the former Red Cross property at 105 Allard St. — but not without some council members having a few choice words for the controversial developer behind the project.   

On Monday, council gave the green light to change a number of performance standards at the request of developer Mathew Moxness and Allard SSM Inc., including the construction of a parking lot in the front and exterior side yards at the corner of Allard Street and Marwayne Avenue and a reduction in parking spaces. 

But getting the rezoning application approved wasn’t smooth sailing for Moxness by any stretch, as his family's previous track record concerning dozens of derelict and unkempt properties in town was brought up frequently by members of council.

At one point, city solicitor Karen Fields advised council that it has to be fair in considering the rezoning application itself when taking it into consideration. If the rezoning application was denied over the character of the applicant, the city could open itself to an appeal at the Ontario Land Tribunal on the grounds that the city wasn’t being fair and open minded, Fields added, which could lead to a monetary award potentially being paid out by the City of Sault Ste. Marie.    

“We haven’t had much of a chance to speak directly to you, and so you’re hearing it from us tonight — and I hope you’re hearing it loud and clear, because it is frustrating and unacceptable in the type of property maintenance that you allow to take hold at your many holdings in the community is frankly deplorable,” said Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker to Moxness, who appeared virtually to take questions from council. “And so, I’m going to support this rezoning because on planning principles, it makes good sense. But I hope the message has gotten through to you that we are very unhappy with how you manage your properties in town.”

Moxness is the founder of Crescendo Equity Corporation, a real estate investment firm that specializes in re-purposing old and under-performing assets into multi-family rental homes. He’s also a co-director of Crescendo Property Management (also known as CPM Properties), a Hamilton-based company that manages a number of residential and commercial properties in Niagara, Sudbury, Hamilton and the Sault. 

The other director of CPM is Nels Moxness, who is believed to be Mathew’s father. As extensively reported by SooToday, Nels is the director of at least 25 numbered companies that own dozens of houses in Sault Ste. Marie. In all, his companies have purchased approximately 129 properties, the majority of them  situated in the city’s downtown core.

Incorporation documents for Crescendo Property Management and all the numbered companies show the same registered office address: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. 

As SooToday previously revealed in a series of articles, a large amount of rental properties in Sault Ste. Marie have been scooped up by southern Ontario investors over the past few years. While some of those properties are being rented to tenants, others have remained vacant and boarded up — triggering a number of complaints to the city’s bylaw department.  

Last year, two numbered companies directed by Nels were slated to go to provincial offences court over half a dozen matters involving alleged fire and building code violations. 

Moxness conceded that some of CPM’s properties have some “challenges” in dealing with break-ins and vandalism on a nightly basis. “While many of the bylaw concerns are correct, some may not be 100 per cent factual in that we’re not making an effort to keep the city clean and to keep our properties clean,” Moxness told council on Monday night. “We are, in fact, trying very hard — it’s just in many cases, it’s difficult.” 

Nels has also been named in three civil suits filed in Sault Ste. Marie in which plaintiffs claimed more than $833,000 in damages combined. None of the claims have been proven in court.   

A letter from a member of the public appeared in an addendum to the city council agenda prior to Monday’s meeting, warning the municipality of the family’s alleged track record when it comes to paying back loans.   

“Mathew and his father Nels Moxness are in default of several loans given to them for previous projects. Legal actions may be pending,” wrote Debra Bragg. “They owe my corporation $70,000 and I am aware of 12 other lenders awaiting payments of overdue interest and principle.

“Please consider this application carefully. I am not sure if an additional project will help them return the missing funds or add to their expenses.”

Aside from the track record of both the Moxness family and CPM in the Sault, councillors and members of the public in attendance raised concerns around urban density and parking in the area, in addition to break-ins and uncut grass at the former Red Cross building. 

Elisa Turk, a property manager at neighbouring Pine Allard Properties, expressed concern with Moxness’ application, which will reduce parking at 105 Allard Street from 59 to 37 spaces. 

“It’s going to be a major nuisance for all of our tenants to have that building taken down and new development put up," Turk said. "But our big concern is just I don’t think there’s enough parking spaces for what he’s looking at putting in."

Moxness anticipates construction of the apartment building will begin in the spring of next year.