2 years after purchase condo buyers upset with stalled project

Jordan Hailssaw potential in a condominium proposed for north of Oliver Square, but after putting $30,000 down on a unit two years ago, he wants out.

Located at 117th Street and 105th Avenue in Edmonton, Infiniti on 105 is only a few blocks from his current home and close to many amenities.

"The Brewery District was just in the works, plus the downtown arena was also coming into play," said Hails.

Hails, a Canadian Armed Forces signal operator, moved from Toronto with his wife five years ago.

The couple had always rented so they wanted to move into something more permanent.

Their condo unit was supposed to be the newly married couple's first home purchase. They were excited and serious about moving in and eventually starting a family.

"It's a lot of cash to put down," Hails said.

"A lot more than we than required to secure the unit. We wanted to put ourselves a little bit ahead. We saved up that much and we thought we'd get a leg up and throw it all down."

The couple made the down payment in October 2014. Hails said he once received updates from the development's Facebook page, but then it disappeared. So he started to visit the condo site to see what was happening.

Work stopped in May

In July, Hails noticed there were no workers on the site and all that existed of the condo building was the underground parking garage. That's when he started to get concerned.

The site also garnered complaints from its neighbour, Magic Lantern Theatres. The company owns a parking lot that has slowly been sliding down a slope into the excavated condo site.

Robert McLeod says work stalled on the site in May. As an associate broker, he handled sales & marketing for the project and helped sell 60 per cent of the 108 units.

McLeod has been hearing from buyers who planned to move in as soon as the project finished, and are now growing impatient.

"Their lives are on hold and they're seeking more finite information from the developer on the actual state of the project and completion", he said. "That has been up in the air and that's been of great concern and frustration for them and us."

McLeod would like buyers to wait it out, but Jordan Hails is considering to walk away from the project and get his money back.

"They won't give us any information," he said. "They won't give us any assurance that it's actually going to be completed."

"We just keep getting the run around from all the different parties of the project."

Columbia Avenue Development did not respond to requests for comments or an update from CBC News.

@Travismcewancbc Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca