Council approves Sherman family application to tear down North York mansion

North York Community Council has approved an application made by the family of Barry and Honey Sherman to demolish the couple’s Old Colony Road home.

The billionaire philanthropist couple was found dead in the basement of 50 Old Colony Road on Dec. 15, 2017. Earlier this month, the family asked permission from the city to tear down the mansion, as they believe the former crime scene will never be sold.

In a letter, a representative for the family said the home has been vacant for a year and has “bad memories” attached to it.

The family intends to tear down the home, clean up the property, fill in the pool and eventually put the lot up for sale.

“Basically it was one of the family members who spoke to the some of the neighbours and said, ‘Look, we’re looking to take it down,’” Eric Kirshenblatt, who represented the Sherman family in council today, told CTV News Toronto.

“Everyone is relieved because right now it’s a vacant structure that has some bad memories.”

Kirshenblatt’s company, RKS Building, will take care of the demolition. He said the work could start as early as three weeks from now.

“The house isn’t going to sell the way it is. It’s best to take it down,” he said.

“It was very emotional but I think they’re relieved because again, out of all the memories they’ve had, this is the one that’s lasting. We’d like to put it to bed.”

The couple’s lifeless bodies were discovered by a real estate agent who was showing the home to potential buyers. The Apotex founder and his wife were reportedly hanging from a railing of an indoor swimming pool with belts tied around their necks. An autopsy later determined that both died of “ligature neck compression.”

On Jan. 26, more than a month after their deaths, police officially classified their deaths as a targeted double homicide.

The family later hired a private investigation team to look into the case and is offering up a $10-million reward for any information leading to the arrest of the killer. No arrests have been made.

Neighbours previously told CTV News Toronto that they support the application.

The area councillor also approved of the bid to have the home levelled.

The application was approved shortly before 10:30 a.m.