A controversial project and promoter

Just before turning towards Lac Tremblant, the narrow rue Cuttle runs along a freshly dynamited rock cliff, which reveals a gaping hole supported by steel beams.

This well, approximately ten meters deep, which must accommodate a car elevator, will be the only path allowing the future owners of 46 “prestige” apartments in the Lago project to access the building’s underground parking lot. Its possible commissioning is at the heart of a long legal battle waged by a group of neighbors against the developer Cédric Grenon, who also acts as a real estate broker.

Since 2020, the case has led to five court judgments unfavorable to the developer, which forced him to review his plans and specifications several times.

“That’s his modus operandi. He doesn’t care about the rules and he builds anyway, telling himself that he will get away with a slap on the wrist,” denounces Annette Pankrac, a neighbor who opposes the project.

Opponents now accuse the City of Mont-Tremblant of “repeated negligence” in the application of its own regulations, by issuing several construction permits in an “illegal, abusive, erroneous and fraudulent” manner.

In a lawsuit filed last February, they asked the court to order the demolition of all “illegal” constructions authorized by the City, including the car elevator, and even a floor of a prestigious condo complex that would exceed the height authorized by permits.

M^me Pankrac also denounced last January before the municipal council the “physical threats” made against her by the real estate developer. In a video that surfaced in December, we see Mr. Grenon hitting photos of four people who oppose his real estate project with a sledgehammer.

Mr. Grenon is an experienced entrepreneur who has built more than 1,500 homes to date. A decision by the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux rendered in 2002 highlights that the police have already opposed an application for a bar license “taking into account the criminal record [de méfait et vol] of Mr. Cédric Grenon and his previous involvement in two establishments destroyed by arson.”

In a statement sent to The Press by email, Mr. Grenon said he was “concerned about the misinformation spread by certain groups or individuals” regarding his project and its past. “From the beginning, our operation has always been carried out in strict compliance with regulations and in close collaboration with municipal authorities,” assures the developer.

In 2019, Mr. Grenon purchased the former Hôtel du Lac, a 14-room establishment at the end of its life. His plan to replace it with 72 “exclusive and luxurious” condos, promoted as the “last chance to live on the shores of Lake Tremblant,” immediately provoked an outcry from certain neighbors.

” When [M. Grenon] came to meet us, we explained to him that we benefit from a 100-foot non-construction easement around our land which prevented him from making a path to access his parking lot. But he didn’t care,” says M^me Pankrac, who has a house located below with one of the rare accesses to the beach.

She and another neighbor, Mark Hantho, then went to court to have the non-construction easements protecting their land recognized.

In November 2020, the Superior Court categorically prohibited Mr. Grenon and his companies from undertaking work within these easements, including the construction of a road to access the underground parking of future condos.

Stuck in a limited “plate”, the developer then started his car elevator project, an unusual solution in Quebec, which requires an operator 24 hours a day, but which makes it possible to circumvent the problem of easements. Its construction began in the winter of 2022, with the consent of the City, which granted a permit in an “accelerated” manner, “on the basis of false information”, with a commitment to quickly adopt a regulation allowing the commissioning the device which can reach up to 70 decibels, opponents accuse in a lawsuit.

Once again, the Court intervened to stop the work, which illegally encroached on one of the easements.

A report from the engineering firm WSP produced at the request of opponents then concluded that the elevator, with an operating time of more than 2 minutes per vehicle, will cause queues of “several consecutive hours” for on weekends on narrow Cuttle Street.

“Fraudulent seller declaration”

Informed of the conclusions of the report, the Régie du logement du Québec (RBQ) produced a “correction notice” to the contractor in October 2023, highlighting “the absence of an access route” for fire department vehicles. , as well as an insufficient width of the street facing the building to meet regulatory safety requirements. This notice is still in force, confirms the Building Authority, which is analyzing different solutions proposed by Lago to “regularize the situation”.

“This project has a serious problem. I don’t understand how it could have been authorized and built without these issues being resolved, said Gordon Routley, former assistant director of the Montreal Fire Department, now retired, who looked into the matter at the request from an acquaintance who lives in the area. I don’t see how a fire truck can get close enough to the buildings at the bottom of the cliff in case of fire. The intent of the Building Code is to prevent site layout from creating unnecessary hazards. »

An inspector from the City of Mont-Tremblant also issued two tickets to Mr. Grenon’s company in the fall of 2023, accusing it of carrying out work without a permit.

Last November, despite the RBQ’s notice requiring corrective work, Mr. Grenon’s company began selling the condos, noting in the deeds of sale that it had “not received, from any competent authority whatsoever, no notice to the effect that the Building does not comply with the laws or regulations in force.”

The Régie du logement emphasizes that “failing to comply with a correction notice” exposes the seller to “hefty fines”. A lawyer representing the opponents filed a complaint on their behalf against Mr. Grenon to the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtageimmobilier du Québec (OACIQ) for “fraudulent seller declaration.”

“It is common, in projects of this scale, to receive notices of correction from the RBQ,” reacts Mr. Grenon in his written statement. We have received these notices and are actively committed to making any necessary corrections. »

“Despite ongoing litigation, Lago is in full compliance with the zoning and what remains will not violate any easement or zoning,” he adds.

“False representations”

Neighbors holding easements are not the only ones to complain about Mr. Grenon’s ways of doing things.

In January 2024, Marc-André Desormeaux, a businessman who made a deposit of $180,000 to purchase one of the condos in the Lago project, sued the developer to get his money back after realizing that the building would have neither the swimming pool nor the spa promised, since the City refused to issue construction permits due to the easements. The owners of the 85 adjacent condos are demanding $87,000 per summer without access to the beach, the dock, the swimming pool and a tennis court to which Lago allegedly committed to providing access by subscription when Mr. Grenon purchased the property. former Hôtel du Lac in 2019.

In response, Mr. Grenon in turn sued the City of Mont-Tremblant, maintaining that its inability to provide these facilities “results from the actions of the City of Mont-Tremblant,” which refuses to issue the permits.

The municipality refused to comment on the case, “since it is a legal case,” said its spokesperson, Mélanie Adam.

The businessman is not making his first allegations of fraudulent practices in connection with his real estate projects. In 2019, two builders in the northern suburbs sued one of its companies, Placements Norplex, for “false representations” for having sold them land in order to build 12-unit buildings when the electrical and water infrastructure was not available. designed only to accommodate triplexes. When the two entrepreneurs obtained a favorable judgment granting them each $77,000 in damages, Mr. Grenon and a business partner allegedly orchestrated “a series of financial transactions which had the effect of making Les Habitations Norplex insolvent, and this , with the intent to defraud” the two plaintiffs, summarizes an interim judgment rendered in the lawsuit filed against Norplex.

The case was settled amicably for the amount that the contractors had requested, says Sylvain Cloutier, one of the two builders who sued Norplex. The latter denied any illegal or fraudulent reorganization.

“Cédric is truly a hard-hearted business guy,” says Mr. Cloutier. He does not often give the right information, to benefit the sale, or to make the sale happen more quickly. “It’s a bit like the way we did things that we discovered when we dealt with him,” he adds.