On the morning of July 20, 2008, a massive explosion in the basement electrical room of 22-storey, 2 Secord Avenue and subsequent fire, forced the 900 residents of the apartment building from their homes.
Thick smoke traveled up from the basement, through the elevator shaft and ventilation system, blackening surfaces throughout the building with soot and forcing the immediate evacuation of the residents. Many left the building with only the clothing on their backs.
The 2 Secord tenants spent 40 days living in emergency accomodations: bunking either with family and friends or in hotel rooms provided by the City of Toronto. During this time, as the building was being assessed for damage and repaired, the residents were allowed back only twice to collect a few belongings.
The tenants who did return briefly to their units to gather belongings were often met with dismal scenes – possessions strewn around the apartment by the explosion, soot on the floors, walls or ceilings and the stench of smoke.
Several tenants decided that they would prefer a fresh start in a new apartment rather than return to live in the building and were initially told by the building’s property management company, The Preston Group, that they would be let out of their leases to do so.
With this understanding, some tenants went ahead and secured new apartments. However, The Preston Group, almost immediately went back on their promise. The property management company now says that tenants who have signed a lease must abide by it until its term is up and month-to-month tenants can leave but must give 60-days notice before doing so.
This about-face has, understandably, upset the tenants. Mayor Miller and local Councilor Janet Davis have both expressed their frustration with The Preston Group’s decision, but can do nothing else if the company refuses to release the tenants from their leases.
The Preston Group has now unveiled a plan for the tenant’s return. It includes $100 gift cards and cleaning kits for the tenants.
Common areas in the building have been cleaned [and viewed by the media] , and the City’s inspectors have signed off on the safety of the building, but the tenants will return to damaged units. The property management company has pledged to clean surfaces in the tenant’s units but considers the cleaning and restoration of residents’ property to be their own concern. The building’s parking garage and laundry room remain unusable.
The Preston Group charges between $729/month (1 bedroom regular) and $1299/month (3 bedroom unit) for units at 2 Secord. 2-bedroom units at 2 Secord rent for $899/month.
The company manages two other properties in our neighbourhood, 90 Eastdale Avenue (near Secord Avenue) and 65-75 Halsey (north of Taylor Creek, off Dawes, just south of the Dawes Road Library).
East York Tenants Group 
Im a tenant who lived at this building prior to the explosion and returned to this building to live after the OK was given. Not once was I ever offered an apt at another property. They announced their offer in the few days after the explosion when all of us were trying to figure out WHAT NOW? Managment was very selective as to who they offered this. They only moved a handful of my neighbors. They were told they also have the option to move back to their units when it was ok. The city arranged hotels for some, insurance comp. stepped in and helped their policy holders some went to family. The few they selected were Mang. FAVORITES and the other few were tenants they wanted to get rid of. The favorites were welcomed back and the others were told they could not go back. Mang. also claimed they did basic cleaning to units ceilings walls and floors. Maybe their selective FAVs but majority of us tenants came home to our units with compleaty black soot covered interiors. Majority of us were vandalized… stolen p.c/laptops electronics, game systems, jewelry ect. My point is Mang. there is very mean and they make sure they get by with doing very minimal for their tenants. They also live in a 3 bed townhouse rent free with no children. People who live here definitely know Mang. is only here for appearance and make sure their position and all the perks are secure. Another tid bid folks ….in the next couple yrs they have approved plans to demolish the townhouses,pool parking lot to make way for new buildings the tenants at 2 Secord will have first option to pick a new unit in new building. Once they empty the old one it will be demolished,another new building will replace it. So they have NO intentions on spending any money to chase bug and cockroach infestation out, they have no intention to up-keep the building and take care of their tenants at all. They are just there for appearances.
*The review below is geared towards 90 Eastdale Avenue and Preston Group
Unless you want to live in an old building full of cockroaches and bed bugs and where management has NO courtesy for tenants – STAY AWAY! Don’t even finish reading this review – remove the building from your possible apartments to move into and save yourself the trouble. I also suggest avoiding Preston Group apartments altogether, but I can’t speak to the conditions of the other buildings. I only know that the company is run TERRIBLY.
We have lived here for three years and paid the full 3% rent increase each year. There have been zero improvements made to the building in this time, in fact, if anything the living conditions have worsened (the bug problem certainly has). The lobby area was recently renovated, but it was a completely unnecessary renovation done only to spruce up the space to entice possible tenants to move in. Proposals were made by tenants to update the space to a more functional area like including a bike rack, mail area, tenant information board, etc., but all of these requests were ignored. Oh, they did also fix the laundry room door. It was broken when we moved in and was fixed about a month ago.
If it takes 3 years for them to fix a door… how long do you think it takes to fix an elevator??? Minimum one week (and it will work for maybe 1-2 months tops). Good luck getting from anywhere above the 10th floor to the lobby in under 10 minutes. The stairs may seem ominous, but at least they are reliable.
For any of you that have had a horrible customer service experience in a retail store or restaurant, be wary because the management here is WORSE. Management has changed more times than I can count since we moved in. Of course, the changes are not announced to tenants – one day, you’ll just see a new face in the office. I haven’t bothered to learn their names anymore. What’s the point – they won’t be here long and are never around when you need them anyway.
I have been leaving phone messages for the past 6 days – I have yet to receive even ONE returned phone call. Unfortunately, it seems the company that runs the building is also in the business of ignoring their calls. I have left messages with Preston Group for the past 3 days. My fiance and I recently bought a car and are trying to secure a parking space in the underground lot. In the meantime, we are stuck paying the $5 daily fee to park in the visitor space. This is really adding up!!!!
I am so unbelievably disappointed in this building and how it is run. We have put up with cockroaches, bed bugs, noisy neighbours and all of the typical issues one may experience living in an older apartment building in Toronto. Having inconsiderate management is the straw that broke this camels back. We’ve had enough and are packing our bags. I highly suggest anyone looking at this building seriously think twice before signing a lease. It’s not worth the price or the stress.