Realty group to take over Winpark contracts

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This article was published 01/05/2015 (3429 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A tentative deal is in place for Towers Realty Group to buy at least part of the business run by Winpark Dorchester Property Management.

Barry Shenkarow, chairman of Towers, confirmed the move in a statement late this week. “Towers Realty Group has reached a tentative deal to take over some of the third-party property-management contracts of Dorchester Developments Ltd. and Winpark Dorchester Property Management.”

Shenkarow is perhaps best known as the last owner of the original Winnipeg Jets, who helped usher the team into the NHL in 1979 but ultimately sold the team to a group that moved it to Phoenix in 1996.

He declined further comment on the proposed deal. No price tag has been released.

The announcement comes a couple of months after the Free Press reported Winpark, a prominent property-management company, was being investigated by the Manitoba Securities Commission over allegations work done at the houses of two executives was billed to a pair of large apartment buildings, it managed at 585 River Ave. and 605 River Ave.

An MSC spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for the Winnipeg police confirmed it has also received information about possible wrongdoings at Winpark and is currently reviewing it.

Towers Realty is a commercial, multi-family and condominium property-management and development firm focused on Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It manages a wide variety of properties in the two provinces.

A number of longtime Winpark properties have recently switched management companies. For example, both 585 and 605 River have already moved over to Sussex Realty. The New Westminster building in Wolseley, home to the Sherbrook Street Deli and an eight-unit apartment block, will follow suit today and the Silver Heights apartment building on Portage Avenue will do the same on May 15.

A group of owners of 585 River and 605 River filed documents with the MSC, alleging receipts were doctored by Winpark for work done on the personal residences of Jeff Rabb, his brother, Ian, and Jeff Rabb’s girlfriend. The receipts were changed so the work was charged to the two buildings.

One of the owners said the amount of money in question was well in excess of $1 million.

Jeff Rabb is the head of Winpark. Ian Rabb is the general manager.

Jeff Rabb disputed the allegations of misappropriation in February and said not only have all errors been corrected, but the company conducted a three-year review of past invoices to ensure any other mistakes were eliminated. He said the amount in question is “much lower” than what the owners allege.

He also said he had met with the MSC, provided investigators with information and offered to share further information if it was needed. He said he had retained a national accounting firm and asked it to make short- and long-term recommendations regarding the company’s accounting and accounts payable systems and software.

Jeff Rabb did not respond to interview requests for this story.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca