Czech project on canal sabotaged:developer. Montreal Gazette

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Czech project on canal sabotaged
developer: On 'hot' real estate; Parks Canada says cultural centre plan was changed, now violates lease

ANN CARROLL
The Gazette


July 14, 2005

CREDIT: GORDON BECK, THE GAZETTE
Developer George Syrovatka on a parcel of land north of the Lachine Canal in Griffintown, where he had hoped to build a Czech cultural centre and hotel. Parks Canada has had second thoughts about the project. Syrovatka suggests other market pressures are in play now.


George Syrovatka says his plans for a Czech cultural and convention centre next to the Lachine Canal are being sabotaged by other developers as well as misunderstandings with Parks Canada and borough officials.

"The area has become too 'hot,' " said Syrovatka, a marketing and management consultant and director of the non-profit Czech Cultural Centre Inc.

"Had it been built two or three years ago, nobody would have noticed.

"Now, with interest in the casino (relocation) and condo development, our teeny, tiny piece of land has become a strategic place."

In 2002, Parks Canada gave Syrovatka's non-profit group a 99-year lease for $1 on a vacant industrial lot at Seminaire and Olier Sts., in the old Griffintown district.

The plan was to build a cultural centre, with exhibition halls and guest rooms, to host art shows, workshops and other cultural events.

Funding for the project was to come from private investors who would manage the property and rent out meeting rooms and accommodations, Syrovatka said.

The building was to revert to Parks Canada at the end of the lease.

Federal officials now say the Czech centre organization has violated lease conditions: the original four-storey project has grown, without Parks Canada approval, into a six-storey centre with 70 hotel rooms, and the site has not been decontaminated within the required two years.

Syrovatka said it was his understanding that the decontamination could wait until he had a building permit, a process that has yet to be completed.

He insisted Parks Canada has been kept informed about the evolution of the project.

If the commercial side of the venture has grown, it is only because Parks Canada stipulated in 2002 that the centre could not ask for government funding, Syrovatka said.

"If we don't have (business) income, we'd go bankrupt soon."

Parks Canada has given the Czech Cultural Centre until the end of August to rectify matters.

"The ball is on their side of the fence," Lynn Cleary, Parks Canada director for Quebec, said Tuesday. "They have to call and show us they will comply with the lease."

Montreal's Southwest borough initially approved the project, which conforms with local zoning. But the plan was dropped from the council agenda this month, in light of the lease dispute.

The issue could come up for discussion at the Aug. 2 council meeting, borough mayor Jacqueline Montpetit said.

Syrovatka says he hopes to persuade both Parks Canada and the borough to give him a break.

The centre would create about 70 permanent jobs, he noted, and its facilities - including a canal-side restaurant and a rooftop sports club - would be open to the general public.

"We've put a lot of effort and money into this," said Syrovatka, 59, a former champion speed skier who left Czechoslovakia for Montreal in 1972.

There are about 5,000 people of Czech origin in Montreal and 60,000 across Canada, mainly in Toronto and Vancouver.

The Czech Republic embassy in Ottawa is steering clear of the dispute.

Embassy officials initially welcomed Syrovatka's plan to build a venue in Montreal for Czech cultural activities, embassy spokesperson Jan Buben said this week.

The Czech government has its own network of 19 cultural centres in London, Paris, New York and other major cities, he noted.

But Syrovatka's decision to expand the project and boost the number of hotel rooms is a business decision and has nothing to do with the embassy, Buben said.

"In his dispute with Parks Canada and the city, we do not support him," he said. "We are not trying to influence anyone - it's none of our business."

acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005