Updated - Frantzen says lender didn't release funds to pay his workers

Posted August 27, 2012

The owner of the former Pins and Q's bowling alley property in Alliston responded this afternoon to suggestions that he has been avoiding contractors who worked on the renovation to his building.

John Frantzen, who through a numbered company purchased the property at 294 Victoria Street E in Alliston last winter, also disputed the figures quoted regarding the real estate transaction suggesting that "On the surface they may appear to be clear and correct, however, there were additional fees and holdbacks that came into play," he wrote via email. At this post (7 pm) he had not elaborated.

Additionally, Mr. Frantzen suggested that the contractors referenced in the original story posted this morning, were not paid because he had trouble securing expected financing.

"There is some truth in the statements the trades claim, however, there is also truth in the claims I have made to them that the funds that the lender was supposed to release, were never released," wrote Frantzen. "We have several satisfied clients and trades that we have dealt with in the past and continue to do business with. This was an unusual situation, and one that we have never encountered before, where a lender held back funds, and then would not release them, even after the project was completed. It has caused massive issues for everyone."

Contractors chasing owner of former Alliston bowling property

Posted August 27, 2012

The numbered company that purchased the former Pins and Q's bowling alley in Alliston, connected to a John Frantzen whose listed address appears to be a UPS Store PO Box in Collingwood, is being pursued by contractors who were hired to renovate the property but were not paid for those services.

Isaiah Bayley-Hay, owner of Young Pro Painters in Barrie, told Free Press Online that his company was hired to paint the outside of the building located at 294 Victoria St., E. The job was completed in February and is owed, $1,680.

"The day I finished he knew I would be finished and he told me he would come with the money and since then I haven't been able to find him, but he has answered the phone in the past, but no longer," alleged Mr. Bayley-Hay in an email to Free Press Online. "I cannot find him as he doesn't have a valid office address where he can be served the lawsuit I have filed and after confering with realtors he doesn't seem to own a home. His phone numbers are no longer in service and I simply cannot reach him, nor do I live in Alliston to just wait out front of the building all day, everyday to see if he luckily stops by."

Richard Morgenroth, a Keswick based contractor told Free Press Online he responded to an ad on kijiji about the bowling ally needing demolition and renovation.

"My three boys were between jobs so we put in a price," wrote Mr. Morgenroth in an email to Free Press Online. "He squeezed the price down and reduced the amount of work to match what he wanted to pay - $5,000 just labour. He paid $1,900 and still owes a balance of $3,600. We killed ourselves there. Out of the $1,900 I had to pay $500 for a dump bin he said he would cover and travel and odd supplies from Home Depot to complete the work. We ended up with $200. With my constant threats and letters to his home he has promised many times to clear this, but he always says his lawyer didn't release the funds.

Attempts to reach Mr. Frantzen have not been successful.

According to an interpretation of the title abstract from a local source in real estate transactions, the numbered company purchased the Pins and Q's property from Julia Fox of Essa Township in a convoluted arrangement: "The property sold for $695,000 made up of $245,000 cash and a 2nd mortgage back in the amount of $450,000. But the buyer then arranges a 1st mortgage for $455,000 from a real lender. The buyer collects that in cash when the deal closes but he only turns over $245,000 to the seller (all he has to) - the rest of the purchase price covered by the 2nd mortgage, leaving the buyer with an over-mortgaged property and $210,000 cash."

The building, which had been operating as a five pin bowling alley for many years in Alliston until it closed last January, remains vacant.

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