Wayne Frazer, who owns Doug Laurie Sports at the Kozlov Centre on Bayfield Street in Barrie, has had enough.
In a YouTube video posted Feb. 16, Frazer describes his battle with never-ending flooding and damage inside his collectibles store, which he claims has been a daily burden for the past two months.
Frazer declined to be interviewed by BarrieToday, but did direct a reporter to his online video for more information about his situation.
In the video, he says he is getting little help from mall management, adding the issue is “not even remotely” being dealt with by the mall.
“If I don’t come in every 12 to 14 hours, then it’s actually worse than what you are going to see here,” Frazer says in the video as the walk-through begins.
In the clip, a back hallway with standing water on the floor can be seen, with large bins full of water, and more water falling from different ceiling areas where tiles appear to have dropped out.
Some of the bins can be seen overflowing due to a constant flow of water.
Frazer says he “can’t keep up as they fill up every four hours.”
Water can also be seen running down the walls.
Frazer claims his back room is always flooded when he arrives at the business every morning, with “about a quarter-inch to half-inch of water all the way through the back," he says. “I’ll be cleaning all this up like I do every morning. Sometimes twice a day."
Frazer also says he has “burned through” three or four shop-vacs during his continuous cleanup efforts.
In one area of his shop, he acknowledges active electrical cords in the water on the floor, but says, “I don’t have any choice,” as he needs to keep fans and equipment running overnight. If he doesn't do that, he says the entire front of the store would become flooded.
In the video, Frazer says: “The mall told me intermittently, ‘we’re going to move you … no, we’re going to fix the mall … we don’t want you to leave,' (and) then when I finally went three weeks ago to complain and say when are we going to do something, the leasing manager told me, ‘well, if it’s so bad, you’re month-to-month, why didn’t you just leave?’”
Frazer also says his front showroom is getting “progressively worse every day.”
The floor around his desk area can be seen submerged in water.
“This is the worst it has been,” he says, as water is now under the racks displaying the products he has for sale.
Frazer also describes a wall which he claims is buckling due to water saturation.
He says he has removed stock from the wall, as he was afraid the wall was going to fall down.
Frazer says mall management rented him a large industrial fan so he could keep part of the front showroom floor dry and protect his stock.
Laying about on the wet floor, collectible hockey jerseys are shown in a pile after being destroyed by the flooding.
“So, this is my store,” says Frazer before pausing.
“It’s been pretty hard,” his voice breaking. “I wasn’t expecting to get emotional about it, but it’s pretty tough to see your work get destroyed because somebody doesn’t care."
Frazer says he has been coming into his shop nearly every day since Dec. 8 to try and save his business. He says he's also waiting for his insurance company to do something.
Frazer says he’ll be leaving the north-end mall soon. He says he's currently looking for a new location.
“So, if you haven’t been in Doug Laurie Sports in the Kozlov Centre before, and if you come in for the first time, I’m really sorry … that you have to see it like this,” as he breaks down in tears once again. “This is embarrassing. It hurts my pride.
”And for all of you that kept coming in through all of this, giving me encouragement, and sympathizing and commiserating with me, I can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me. I’m at my wit’s end,” Frazer adds before the video ends.
BarrieToday reached out to mall management for comment on the matter on Feb. 20.
When asked about the overall condition of the Kozlov Centre and management's efforts to deal with flooding issues, a representative replied, “I cannot. I’m not allowed to comment.”
Meanwhile, the City of Barrie, a day after being approached by BarrieToday, said on Feb. 20 that its enforcement services team has been in contact with the property owner about the matter.
“The property owner has been working to comply with all requests made by the city,” said spokesperson Scott LaMantia. “This includes initially completing a temporary roof repair immediately, as well as repairing and replacing drywall and ceiling tiles."
While walking through the Kozlov Centre on Wednesday, a BarrieToday reporter observed dozens of buckets on the floor catching water from the ceiling areas in most parts of the building that are open to the public.
Some of the glass panels in the large skylights on the roof, above the corridors in front of shops, are broken with large cracks. Water damage is also evident.
A bench area under one of the damaged skylights is blocked off with caution tape to keep them from being used.
There are many roofing tiles missing, and water-staining on many that remain in place.
The sound of dripping water can be heard in several different areas inside the mall.
The Kozlov Centre opened in August 1986.
Another tenant was willing to speak out about their water-damaged business, as well.
Sarah Lippa-Johnson, the regional co-ordinator for Modern College, a hairstyling and esthetician training school on the top floor of the Kozlove Centre in just one of the many office spaces, says the mall's condition has severely declined in the past two years.
The school has been dealing with water leakage occurring inside their own unit, she added.
“We have quite significant water damage to our ceilings, light fixtures, our front desk area and an office, as well,” Lippa-Johnson told BarrieToday. “The electrical is a big concern, because it has leaked inside light fixtures."
Lippa-Johnson says there have been “issues” communicating directly with the mall's owners, but that management has been in contact with them about the water damage.
“I do regularly bring up concerns,” she said. “Some concerns are addressed, (and) some in a timely manner.”
Lippa-Johnson says the mall roof has been an ongoing issue.
“We were told that the roof was going to be done during (last) summer … and they said that they weren’t going to do the roof, and that they were going to try and temporarily fix what was going on in our unit,” she added.
Lippa-Johnson says mall management then decided to repair the roof this past December.
“They did have a roofing company in, and they did replace, I would say, the top of our unit, and as it was in December, and they opened things up, we had significantly more water damage,” she said.
Lippa-Johnson said she has not seen that particular roofing company on-site since just after Christmas.
“Now all of a sudden, there’s a new roofing company that just showed up, within the last week or so. They are trying to solve the issues, but I don’t think this is the best time to try to fix the roof,” she said.
Friday’s weather forecast for next week shows above-zero temperatures in Barrie from Monday through Wednesday.
Lippa-Johnson says she's expecting a lot more water damage in their school until it’s completely resolved.
“This should have been done earlier,” she said.
Another concern by business tenants is that public washrooms in the mall are also closed off due to flooding and water damage.
Staff of other stores, along with patrons at the mall, have to find other options, such as the grocery store or asking to use the Modern College bathroom facilities, Lippa-Johnson said.
“We would honestly like to see, you know, not only the water damage fixed, but the overall condition of the mall back to what it was supposed to be, and see units full, see the mall flourishing, see patrons back in the mall, and have this contributing part of society again … bring back the former glory at this mall,” she said.