{"id":543009,"date":"2026-03-17T20:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543009\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:12:10","slug":"police-hq-subcontractor-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543009\/","title":{"rendered":"police HQ subcontractor \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

A demolition subcontractor on the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project said he fought to get paid for his work and is still suffering from related losses.<\/p>\n

While testifying at a public inquiry into the project Tuesday, Tiger Ventures Demolition owner Sheldon Pitz said he billed main contractor Caspian Projects $2.3 million for his company\u2019s work. However, he said he was never fully paid and lost more money due to extra work he was instructed to complete without compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost money \u2026 I lost everything that I had. Plus, I had gone and mortgaged my house again. I would say that when this job was over, I was almost a million dollars in the hole,\u201d said Pitz.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The public inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project continues today with testimony from a subcontractor who did demolition work at the site. (Mikaela MacKenzie\/Free Press files)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve still got a lot to pay off, too. It\u2019s not over yet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Tiger Ventures filed a lawsuit against Caspian and its owner Armik Babakhanians. The suit alleges Caspian claimed it had a maximum budget of $2.5 million for the demolition work but billed the city for at least three times that amount. The allegations have not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Problems with the headquarters project at 245 Smith St. have plagued the city for years and sparked multiple legal battles. An external audit found the project had been severely mismanaged. Initially expected to cost $135 million, its price soared to $214 million, when flood damage and some late security upgrades are included.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Pitz said he was initially very excited to get the HQ contract, since it would be his company\u2019s biggest job yet.<\/p>\n

However, he testified that getting actual payments from Caspian was \u201clike pulling nails.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry viewed a document that indicates Caspian billed the city for $10.15 million of demolition work it credited to Tiger, which Pitz testified his company was not paid.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get (any) of it \u2026 That\u2019s not my invoice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pitz said he never saw other companies doing demolition work at the building.<\/p>\n

The city launched fraud and construction-deficiency lawsuits over the HQ project. A settlement approved in March 2023 calls for the city to receive $23.5 million if paid within 36 months. If the payment is not made within 36 months, the city will ask the Court of King\u2019s Bench to order that it be paid $28 million. That deadline will be reached on March 24.<\/p>\n

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

X : @joyanne_pursaga<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Joyanne<\/p>\n

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A demolition subcontractor on the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project said he fought to get paid for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-543009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}