Owner of recently demolished derelict home seeks approval to build townhouses

A developer is asking London’s city hall to rezone a property to develop stacked townhouses on South Street. CTV’s Daryl Newcombe has the story.

The owner of a derelict home that was the source of safety concerns in the SoHo neighbourhood, until it was demolished, is now preparing to ask city hall to rezone the property for a townhouse development.

Toronto-based Anmoor Homes Inc. has applied to rezone 514-520 South Street to permit a 3-storey townhouse development with a total of 28 units and 15 parking spaces.

“I think that’s good to get more families in the area,” said neighour Desiree Ashby as she walked nearby. “There’s so many people that are struggling for houses.”

However, Ashby still remembers the derelict home that sat on the site until last fall.

“It definitely seemed like a safety concern for anyone in the area,” she recalls.

According to property records, Anmoor Homes Inc. has owned the property since March 21, 2022, which includes two-and-a-half years when a vacant and crumbling home (built in 1853) became the subject of safety concerns in the neighbourhood.

CTV News has made multiple attempts to contact a representative of Anmoor Homes to ask about the condition of the house during the two and a half years the company owned it.

There has been no response to date.

More than a year after Anmoor Homes purchased the house at 520 South St. it was among five derelict buildings shortlisted by city staff for a Property Standards Related Demolition.

At the time, neighbour Dylan Astles expressed concern about trespassing and drug use in the boarded-up house.

“You can see all the trash they leave behind,” he pointed out during an interview with CTV News. “There’s the odd fire in the back, people have been cooking. So, it does run the risk of a fire (that) could blow over onto our house.”

In February, 2023 city staff issued an Unsafe Building – Order to Make Safe.

Then fire ripped through the crumbling house in April, 2023.

No one was injured.

Last July, Council agreed to remove the house from the Register of Cultural Heritage Resources after a report from the Chief Building Official noted that few of the home’s historic features remained after many years of neglect.

The home was demolished in November 2024, under the watchful eye of city hall’s Director of Municipal Compliance.

During the demolition, neighbours told CTV News they were glad to see the decrepit house was being removed.

“Homeless people stay in there,” explained neighbour Gavin Smith as he watched from across the street. “A lot of issues with it, and most of the time the house has been falling down. The roof is barely connected, as you can see.”

According to Google Street View, the house was initially boarded up sometime between August 2017 and July 2019.

That was before it was sold to Anmoor Homes in March, 2022.

The Planning and Environment Committee will consider the rezoning request at a public meeting on August 12.

Written comments must be submitted to city hall by July 9.