WATERLOO REGION — From luxury hotels to fine dining restaurants to a private, high-end golf course, Pearle Hospitality has a carefully-calculated and refined public image.

Less is known, however, about another business in the family that focuses on condo development.

Rise Real Estate, based in Ancaster, is behind a long list of student-oriented condominium projects — ventures that have earned their share of controversy, leaving behind a trail of frustrated buyers, angry tenants, labour squabbles, spurned lenders and subcontractors alleging unpaid work.

While you may not have heard of Rise Real Estate, you likely know about Whistle Bear Golf Course, Cambridge Mill, Elora Mill and Ancaster Mill, all prominent properties owned by Pearle Hospitality.

The private company, started by Hamilton's Ciancone family, has grown into a successful, multi-generational enterprise that branched out into condo development a few years ago.

While one side of the family runs some of Waterloo Region's best-known hospitality businesses, Rise Real Estate specializes in student-oriented condo towers, including the ICON Waterloo and Luxe I and II in Waterloo, the Luxe London in London, and similar projects in Guelph, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton and elsewhere.

The companies share an office at an industrial plaza in Ancaster. But Rise Real Estate insists there's no overlap between the family's two companies.

"The owners of Pearle Hospitality have no stakes or interests in Rise Real Estate," the company said, in a statement.

ICON Waterloo was an ambitious 600-unit condo tower next to the University of Waterloo campus that was built as an investment opportunity for people that wanted to rent out condominium units to students.

Rise Real Estate, which was created 10 years ago, saw the 25-storey twin tower development on Phillips Street sell out quickly.

But move-in dates had to be put off and owners remain angry about repeated delays in construction, and the company's failure to establish a condo board to protect their investment. Tenants started petitions, launched grievances with the Landlord and Tenant Board and some sought legal action.

Then, at the end of 2017, the City of Waterloo sent bills to the current owners for property taxes they had already paid up front to Rise Real Estate. They accused the developer of having collected two years' worth of property taxes and not passing that money on to the city.

After months of complaints, owners were sent refund cheques this week from the property management company for 2017's taxes — but some unit owners say they still have outstanding bills from 2016, some from before they took ownership.

Rise Real Estate blames the property tax issue on the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. It said in an emailed statement owners are being reimbursed as the assessment issue is resolved.

Rise says construction at ICON is finished, but admits there are some smaller repairs still remaining. It points to a 95 per cent occupancy rate for next fall that suggests tenants are happy with the building.

"The building is finished, however, with all new builds, there are deficiencies that are being finalized," the company said.

Students who arrived at ICON in September 2016 were angry to find the building in disarray and move-in dates repeatedly postponed. They complained that construction was sloppy and appeared to cut corners, and their concerns were falling on deaf ears.

The tenants' complaints have been well-documented. Some said in online petitions they were scammed, describing dysfunctional property management, and that amenities promised when they signed their leases never materialized or were hastily installed.

The company responds that it has had a property management company in place since people began moving in during the fall of 2016, and installed a dedicated "owner's representative" to handle concerns.

Liens against Rise Real Estate from lenders claiming unpaid debts are extensive.

There are also allegations of unfair labour practices against Rise Real Estate, detailed in public Labour Board records, including a complaint from the Brick and Allied Craft Union of Canada, and the Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 1059.

The unions contend Rise Real Estate — an umbrella group that relies on a network of numbered companies to oversee actual construction — often uses out-of-town, non-unionized subcontractors at their building sites, a practice that might save money but is blamed for some of the chronic delays that have upset condo buyers.

In London, the 3,500-worker strong Labourers' International Union recently reached a settlement with Rise Real Estate after taking the developer to court alleging they were breaking a collective agreement. The union successfully argued XDG Construction Limited, a Waterloo-based company, was in fact part of the Rise network, and the Ancaster company should honour contracts it had signed.

Some union leaders argue Rise's preference for smaller, non-union subcontractors allows them to demand more concessions, and play hardball with payment. They say the developer pays cut-rate wages, meaning frustrated workers walk off the job more frequently, causing further delays.

"They don't take any of the risks," said Joe Plunkett, business manager of the Kitchener-based local of the Brick and Allied Craft Union of Canada, the largest masonry and tile union in the region. "They use all of these small contractors' bank accounts to get the thing built. Then sometimes they don't pay them … or they withhold that last paycheque."

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Rise responds that there are no Labour Board complaints against the ICON project in Waterloo, and says all subcontractors "who fulfilled their contracts to completion and on time have been paid."

Plunkett believes the developer's business model leaves them open to complaints.

"They just want to get in and get out," he said. "They just take their money and leave, and get on to the next one. They don't have any real connection to the community."

Rise does have some good ideas around student rentals, Plunkett said, but argues they and their partners seem to take too many shortcuts along the way.

So who exactly is behind Rise Real Estate, and why does Pearle Hospitality — a company with a respected public image — allow its sister company to operate in this way?

Previously known as the Landmark Group, Pearle is run by Aaron Ciancone, son of late family patriarch Ron Ciancone.

Aaron Ciancone, along with his mother and sister, oversees a business that includes some of the most popular restaurant properties in this region, plus two Bread Bar locations in Hamilton and Guelph, Spencer's at the Waterfront in Burlington and catering and wedding hosting operations.

His brother James Ciancone, who is also president of an outfit called CJCF Investment Corp, is general manager of Rise Real Estate.

The president of Rise Real Estate is Stacey Ciancone, James and Aaron's cousin, who's also head of a string of numbered companies connected to development projects around the country. Stacey Ciancone is listed as the person who paid $8.5-million for the land to build ICON Waterloo on Phillip Street.

Rise's vice-president is former St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan. The company's chief financial officer is Jeff Young, who's also the chief financial officer for Hamilton's Capital Sewer Services.

The development company's track record is an interesting contrast to Pearle Hospitality, which was named after the Ciancone brothers' grandmother — who the company honours as a "woman of integrity."

Pearle, along with her husband Jim Ciancone, was the entrepreneur who opened Hillcrest Dairy in Hamilton in 1936, the business that started the family in the hospitality industry. Today, Pearle Hospitality has an enviable reputation for restoring heritage properties and turning them into top-shelf restaurant and hotel sites.

Although Rise says there is no direct connection between it and Pearle Hospitality, financial liens against Rise Real Estate — revealed in a search of publicly-available records — also list Aaron Ciancone as a debtor, but this is only an allegation not proof that he is involved.

Pearl Hospitality has also indicated an interest in condo development. In 2015, the company asked the City of Cambridge for bylaw variances for a proposed 11-storey condo and hotel building to be built next to the Cambridge Mill

The Ciancone family's business network is extensive, and sometimes difficult to track because of the intricate web of numbered companies. Plunkett, the union leader, argues that's exactly how Rise Real Estate wants it.

"They have their hands in a lot of pies. But they're structured in such a way they're a just paper bank," he said. "There's just nothing there. You can't get to the people you need to speak to … There's a lot of smoke and mirrors with them."