ATHABASCA — Answers to questions about the future of the former Grand Union Hotel site are coming, but not until the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed it has come and gone.
On June 3, town councillors approved a list of nine properties up for tax recovery auction, and the one-and-a-half lots the partial wreckage of the Union still sits on was at the top of the list. Councillors voted unanimously to set the auction date for Aug. 25.
Councillors approved the reserve bid for the one-and-a-half lot property at $120,190, and CAO Rachel Ramey confirmed any site cleanup costs would be responsibility of the new landowner.
Under the Municipal Government Act, properties with two or more years of taxes in arrears can be put up for tax recovery auction. The standing hotel was last on the list of auctionable properties in 2023, but closely avoided going to auction after owner Jaspal Boparai reached a deal with councillors.
The 2023 payment agreement included a clause that in the case of default, the property would immediately be sent to auction.
The approval of the lot for 2025 auction came after Boparai missed a court-ordered deadline. In December 2024, a judge ruled the site must be cleared of debris and back-filled by April 30, 2025.
Equipment and crews were working on the site in October and November, and up to two days before the ruling was handed down in December, but no clean-up work has taken place since before the New Year.
And the municipality itself isn’t the only organization looking to recoup funds from Boparai. ATB Financial filed a writ for more than $1 million in January of 2024, and a $2,271 construction lien was filed in June 2024.
In January 2025, a second construction lien to the tune of $32,000 was placed on the property from Edmonton-based Tej Brothers Trucking.
Singh said he is more than $30,000 out of pocket for the week of work completed in early November, and although he did file a lien, his lawyer told him the chance of seeing his money is slim due to the high amount of other creditor claims.
Boparai declined to answer any questions about the tax auction and the liens and said “Don’t worry about it.”
