Almost four years after the fire that gutted part of Madison Place, residents and owners of the units in the 91原创 City condo building are finding the final repairs are not what they were expecting.

Madison Place went up in flames in mid-July of 2020, with the fire beginning on the top floor and running through the building's roof and attic. With water and smoke damage to the rest of the building, the entire site was evacuated until repairs could be completed.

But that took far longer than anticipated. 

At first, residents and owners were told it would take about a year to rebuild the damaged structure. But there were multiple delays, and by January 2023, residents were being told it would be November before they could move back in.

That stretched out still further, but as of this spring, the doors finally opened. According to one tenant, the official occupancy orders were given in April, although some people had moved back in as early as February or March.

"Considering we waited four years, you would think it would look better than it did before," said one owner, who asked not to be named.

Instead, she said owners are finding a significant number of issues with the quality of work. 

The owner's complaints included everything from emergency exit signs not installed properly in the hallways 鈥� some hanging down by their wires 鈥� to cabinets installed off-centre, to copious use of caulk to fill in gaps around windows, to a missing lighting fixture in her unit's bedroom.

"The knobs on the closet doors were on the wrong way," she noted.

The building itself still has no completed gym, the storage lockers aren't in place, and the building's bike lockers are not yet finished, she said.

"It's a lot harder to rent the unit out, because it's not completely finished," she said.

The owner's tenant from before the fire has long since moved on.

"The whole thing was devastating for her," she said.

Unit owners who rented have also found themselves underwater financially.

Insurance covered her loss of rental income for the first year only, meaning she has lost at least $60,000 in rental income over the last three years. In addition, she's now looking at footing the bill for upgrading what she says is an unfinished unit.

The owner of another unit in the building, who asked to be identified only as J.T., said he's out about $50,000 out of pocket.

He also noted a number of issues, including the new fridges for units being the wrong size.

"The quality of work's a bit rough," he said.

He felt a lack of experience by the builder on a project of this scope might have been part of the problem.

The rebuilding of Madison Place fell to Canstar Restorations.

The 91原创 Advance Times has reached out to Canstar for comment, but has not received a response as of press deadlines.

In January, 2023, Canstar president Ji Yoon told the Advance Times that there were numerous delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain problems, and 91原创 City building permit holdups.

鈥淔or example the replacement windows took almost 10 months to arrive, which prevented any construction work, and [the delay was] further compounded by delays in city approved permits,鈥� Yoon said in 2023.

鈥淲e understand the frustration and inconvenience this has caused, and we apologize for the delay,鈥� Yoon added.

At that time, work was scheduled to complete at the end of November, 2023. It would take several more months.

One of the topics of conversation among Madison Place owners was Alexander Square, a six-storey Willoughby complex that burned down while under construction in April, 2021.

Despite the fact that it burned to the ground, Alexander Square was re-built and opened long before Madison Place, which had caught fire 10 months earlier and suffered less damage.