EXCLUSIVE: Hockey Canada owned condo for seven years in heart of Toronto

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Hockey Canada owned a luxury two-bedroom condo for seven years last decade in the heart of downtown Toronto, in one of two famous 65-storey glass-and-concrete towers, Postmedia has learned.

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And Hockey Canada has confirmed as much.

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This latest bombshell adds to the pile of questionable governance practices and decisions made for years by Hockey Canada leaders, as have come to light since news broke in May that hockey’s domestic governing body had settled out of court with a young woman in London, Ont., who claimed four years ago she was sexually assaulted and threatened into silence by eight unnamed star junior hockey players.

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“I cannot think of any other national sports organization that would approve this type of investment from a risk tolerance point of view,” said one of Canada’s foremost experts on proper board and executive governance, Richard (Rick) Powers, an associate professor who specializes in director training at the University of Toronto’s prestigious Rotman School of Management.

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“I would even question whether such an investment would be in breach of their fiduciary duty, to do what is in the best interests of the organization — in this case, Hockey Canada. In the not-for-profit world, risk tolerance is different from the for-profit sector. It is very conservative and risk-averse.”

Hockey Canada leaders in 2010 may have concluded, Powers added, that such a purchase was a small part of its investment portfolio (which reportedly last year was worth $153 million in stocks, bonds, cash and other assets), “and thus a low-level” risk.

“But,” Powers said, “it also brings up questions around entitlement. Where is the money coming from? How can you raise money from minor hockey leagues and players/parents and then buy a condo, so that your execs and board members have a nice place to stay in Toronto? It doesn’t meet the ‘smell test’ in my view.”

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The condominium, Postmedia sources say, was located on a lower floor at 65 Bremner Blvd., within Maple Leaf Square, a multi-use business and residential complex that includes Toronto’s landmark public square known as Jurassic Park — all of which is bordered by the Gardiner Expressway to the south, York Street to the west and Scotiabank Arena to the northeast.

In the following statement provided to Postmedia on Tuesday afternoon for this story, the not-for-profit sports organization confirmed it once owned the condo:

“The unit was purchased in 2010 to alleviate costs associated with staff and directors travelling to Toronto, including for the 2015 and 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships. It was sold in 2017.”

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But multiple Postmedia sources in the position to know, circa 2009-10, in interviews did not list the coming 2015 and 2017 World Junior championships as an expressed reason they ever heard for the Toronto condo’s purchase.

Indeed, it was not until June 2013 — some three years after the condo was bought by Hockey Canada — that Toronto and Montreal were even announced as co-hosts of both the 2015 and 2017 world junior tournaments. That announcement came four years after the IIHF, the world’s governing body of hockey, revealed in October 2009 that Canada would be host country of the 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 World Juniors.

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In a twist, one former Hockey Canada vice-chair and director from 2013-15 — Karen Phibbs — in a phone interview Tuesday asserted she had no knowledge the not-for-profit organization she helped to govern ever owned a Toronto condo, let alone during her board tenure.

Was the condo’s existence a secret, or a perk quietly reserved for only certain board members or executives? No, Hockey Canada replied Tuesday night when so queried: “Use of the unit was not limited to specific Hockey Canada staff or directors travelling to Toronto.”

Another Postmedia source, former Hockey Canada vice-chair Terry Ledingham, spoke Tuesday at length about the condo on the record. In a phone interview he said he could recall there being only two chief reasons discussed in 2010 for its purchase, as discussed at the time among Hockey Canada board of directors and executive-team leaders — led by the powerful CEO and president at the time, Bob Nicholson.

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“It would be a place that the (Calgary-based) executive used for stopovers, and what-have-you,” said Ledingham, a long-time hockey executive in Alberta, and a Hockey Canada vice-chair from 2009-14. “Effectively, I guess it was a bit of an investment too.”

Ledingham said he could recall having stayed at that condo only once. Same with a different Postmedia source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hockey Canada told Postmedia on Tuesday night that the organization did not ever purchase a condo in Montreal.

Toronto’s Maple Leaf Square — a reported $500-million project — was jointly developed circa 2007-10 by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), Cadillac Fairview and Lanterra.

The complex includes a 7,000-foot daycare centre, a 167-room boutique hotel, 230,000 square feet of office space, a grocery store, a sports-retail store, a bank branch, a fine-dining restaurant and a popular sports pub, Real Sports Bar and Grill.

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The complex’s two towers contain 872 residential units. Residents have access to a rooftop garden and swimming pool.

Two-bedroom units at 65 Bremner Blvd. currently listed for sale on Sotheby’s real-estate website range in asking price from $920,000 to $1.5 million. Condo maintenance fees for owners are around $800 per month.

How much did Hockey Canada pay for its condo in 2010?

“I’m gonna say about a half-mil’ — I’m not sure,” Ledingham said. “I’d only be guessing.”

Hockey Canada provided to Postmedia neither a purchase price in 2010, nor a sale price in 2017.

A real-estate source told Postmedia that sale prices in 2010 for two-bedroom, lower-level condos at 65 Bremner ranged from the low $300,000s to the upper $400,000s, and that sale prices for same in 2017 ranged from the upper $600,000s to upper $800,000s.

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Those numbers suggest Hockey Canada might have cleared some $300,000-$400,000 from its condo-owning experience.

Nicholson left Hockey Canada in 2014. He was replaced as CEO and president by Tom Renney, who in 2016 delegated his presidency duties to Scott Smith, who had been chief operating officer and VP since 2007. Smith added the CEO title this past July, upon Renney’s retirement.

Who at Hockey Canada led the push to purchase the condo in 2010? Ledingham said it was both Nicholson and Smith.

“I would say it was both. I’m pretty sure Scott was the one that brought it forward, though. Pretty sure,” Ledingham said.

Hockey Canada on Tuesday night, however, denied Smith had a central role:

“The process of purchasing the condo was led by the CEO (Nicholson) and CFO (Paul Delparte) at the time. Both are no longer with Hockey Canada.”

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Powers, the board-governance expert, said Hockey Canada’s condo ownership doesn’t make financial sense. The board would meet only 4-6 times per year, he said, and not always in person. The World Junior championships run only for two weeks, and he estimated an organization’s leader would have needed to stay in Toronto not nearly enough times to justify the purchase of a condo worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Let’s say it’s 30 nights per year,” Power said. “That is a pretty expensive perk to have available for the board and staff. Consider the costs of ownership — taxes, monthly fees, cleaning, etc. Then add on the interest payment on the mortgage, or the cost of capital if they purchased it outright. Doesn’t make a lot of sense on a number of fronts.

“(But) if they got lucky, and made a lot of money on the sale of it, good for them.”

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@JohnKryk