Canada - For sale: former biker clubhouse

OFF THE WIRE
The real estate ad makes it sound like a steal.

A 1,500-square-foot “former social club” listed at $109,900, featuring a “fully fenced lot” and “many possibilities!”

But when would-be buyers call, Joe Vine doesn’t gloss over the colourful history of 269 Lottridge St.

“It’s the first thing I ask: ‘Are you aware this was the clubhouse for the Hells Angels motorcycle club?’” said Vine, the realtor tasked with finding a new owner for the notorious old biker hangout.

“Most people know the score. Those who don’t mostly chuckle about it.”

The property only recently hit the market, almost a year-and-a-half after a joint police task force seized the clubhouse as part of a massive biker gang bust dubbed Project Manchester.

Vine admitted the east-end property is a bit of an “odd” sell.

But even stranger is the fact the former clubhouse is up for sale at all.

Many properties seized by police during a criminal investigation are destined to be forfeited under provincial or federal law, provided a criminal link can be proved in court.

The former Hamilton Sandbar Tavern, for example, was forfeited and turned over to the City of Hamilton under the province’s Civil Remedies Act.

In a report to the Hamilton Police Services Board last year, 269 Lottridge St. was included on a list of “restrained” properties before the courts at the end of 2009 that could eventually be forfeited.

But 18 months after her building was seized, Susan Melnyk is still listed in land registry records as the owner of the property, with Legimas Financial listed as the mortgage lender.

Vine said he’s selling the property on behalf of the lender, not the province or federal government.

Here’s where the tale gets stranger still.

The old clubhouse is still entangled in court proceedings, said Bradley Reitz, the federal prosecutor for the Project Manchester case.

That means 269 Lottridge St. is still subject to possible forfeiture. You’re just allowed to buy it now.

Reitz said the courts approved a “restraint order” against the owner of the clubhouse in 2009. That order hasn’t been lifted.

But Reitz said the courts agreed to amend the order in January to allow the mortgage lender to recoup its money by selling the property.

That doesn’t mean a new owner risks losing the one-acre property to some future court decision, however.

Reitz said any sale proceeds over and above what the lender is owed would be held in trust by a third party. That pot of money would be tapped if the courts order the old biker hangout forfeited.

The Spectator was unable to reach Melnyk or a representative from Legimas Financial Thursday.

But land registry documents show the original mortgage associated with the property was $55,000.

Vine has the one-acre plot listed for $109,900.

So far, he’s had a “surprising” amount of interest, despite having to inform interested bidders they must sign an agreement promising not to use the premises as a clubhouse.

“Really, it’s beautiful inside,” he said, pointing to a bar, a “lovely little dinette” and the extensive interior renovations required after police blew a hole in the wall of the building to gain entry in 2009.

“And all of the, uh, memorabilia from the previous tenants is obviously out of there.”

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/545632--for-sale-former-biker-clubhouse