One of the biggest developments Barrie has seen, now in question

The future development of a historic piece of land in Barrie is now in question. Court documents show the owners of the lands of the Barrie fairgrounds are in receivership.

Court documents indicate that the owners of Greenworld Construction were put into receivership on May 20. The application was put forward by the grounds’ former owners, Osmington, and another numbered Ontario company back in April.

The documents show that Greenworld has “repeatedly defaulted on payments” since its purchase of the grounds in 2022 for 48 million dollars, having applied for financing through a vendor take-back mortgage.

As of April 4, 31.7 million dollars remains outstanding, with the company having only paid 6.75 million dollars as of February 28.

On May 20, KSV Restructuring was appointed as receiver and manager of the property by an Ontario Superior Court Justice.

The documents also state that Greenworld Construction had previously consented to the appointment of a receiver and does not oppose the order.

Receivership differs from liquidation, in that a third party is appointed to recover amounts owed on specific defaulted loans in an effort to help a company avoid bankruptcy.

However, the process has left what was expected to be one of the biggest developments the City of Barrie has ever seen in question.

Greenworld Construction had plans to build more than 3,100 new residential units, along with a large amount of commercial space, school zones, and outdoor amenity areas.

The developer had also requested an amendment to the city’s official plan to redesignate the lands from high and medium density to high density and greenspace.

In addition, Greenworld sought to rezone the lands to allow for the construction of more multi-use buildings and townhomes.

While court documents suggest that Greenworld Construction owed more than 31 million dollars as of April 4, they also note that interest, fees and other costs have since accrued and continue to do so.