Close to six months after a fire ripped through the Amy Wireless store at 25 Park Hill Road West, the store remains shuttered and work has been halted on renovations after a city building inspector discovered construction had commenced without city permits.
The city posted a notice on the boarded up front door of the property in March stating that the building is unsafe and remediation is required.
The property is owned by a numbered Ontario company based out of a home in Brampton.
"Fire damage to the building has caused smoke damage that could be hazardous to the health or safety of persons in the normal use of the building," reads two notices tacked to the particle board.
Construction on the main level of the building was started without a permit according to the second notice placed on the front door by the city with a May deadline to meet compliance.
City inspector Mary Caron claims the owner started to build an unlawful commercial unit, began installing a heating system without a permit and started a residential unit without applying to the city to do so first.
The owner was asked to obtain a building permits or remove any construction that had been started by May. The notice makes clear that a fine of up to $50,000 could be issued for a first offence.
Both notices were issued on March 20. The notices remain and no work appears to have been done to the building since.
The City of Cambridge did not respond to requests for comment about the property or if it has taken the property owner to court for failing to meet its order deadline.
The Amy Wireless store on the lower level of 25 Park Hill Rd W. went up in flames on Feb. 25 with police calling the incident, "intentional."
Communication officer with WRPS Melissa Quarrie previously confirmed that investigators, with assistance from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office and the Cambridge Fire Department, have a strong reason to believe this was not an accident.
"The fire is believed to have been deliberately set and is being investigated as an arson," said Quarrie in an emailed statement to CambridgeToday.
She wouldn't confirm whether a security camera in the window of the business captured evidence of a crime.
According to Quarrie, officers were responding to witness reports of two individuals running away from the scene as the building went up in flames.
Police would not confirm if they have made any arrests related to the incident.