On Tuesday afternoon, news broke that Captain John’s had been purchased by a Hamiltonian, who intended to somehow get it to that city and refashion it into a casino (or keep it as a banquet hall).
“I envision the opening scene of Les Misérables,” tweeted Luke Van Wegen.
Sadly, it is not to be. Probably not. It took fewer than 24 hours to kill the dream we dreamed of maritime bygones.
Tuesday, February 5, 4:56 pm
The Hamilton Spectator publishes a seven-paragraph story with a single source:
A Hamilton man says he wants to bring a floating casino to the waterfront.
Don Maga says he’s purchased the storied Captain John’s – which has sat at the foot of Yonge St. in Toronto for years – with the intention of bringing it to the Hamilton Harbour.
Exciting!
Maga also says he intends to put in a bid with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation to run a casino in the 300-foot, 85,000 square-foot vessel.
However, if he’s unsuccessful on the casino front, he says he still plans to open a restaurant and banquet centre. “First and foremost, it will be a place for people to come to, whether it’s a casino or not,” Maga said.
That sounds ambitious, but okay…
Maga has something of a history of coming up with big ideas for broken things.
Oh.
Back in 2011 he said he was preparing to purchase the former Scott Park school, planning to create a community centre on the ground floor and rent out the upper stories. In the end the school was purchased by a Vancouver developer.
And in 2000, Maga tried to purchase and revive an old Volkswagen dealership at Cannon Street east that had sat empty for years. He dreamed of combining a fix-it-yourself auto repair shop with a new car dealership. That dream as well was never realized.
Well, good luck.
So what starts off as a news report about Captain John’s moving to Hamilton ends as a story about a Hamiltonian who purchased the ship with the intention of moving it there, but who may not know how to actually do so.
Tuesday, February 5, 8:10 pm
The Toronto Star follows up the bulletin from its Hamilton sister paper with an 11-paragraph story by their real estate reporter.
It starts off chipper enough:
A Hamilton businessman hopes to tow Captain John’s restaurant from Toronto’s waterfront to Steel Town’s and turn it into a casino or banquet facility.
Don Maga says he plans to meet with Toronto waterfront officials later this week and breathe new life into the rusting 91-metre-long floating restaurant, which has been shut down since the city shut off water to the ship June 26 and health officials ordered the restaurant closed.
But gradually begins questioning its own premise:
Maga, who claims to have been involved in other entertainment ventures but refused to elaborate, wouldn’t discuss what he plans to do about the more than $568,000 that “Captain” John Letnik owes in property taxes and lease payments on the watery slip at the foot of Yonge St.
Before finally including a quote from Captain John Letnik himself, who kinda calls bullshit on Maga:
Letnik says he’s shown Maga around the rusting ship and there have been a few conversations, but no talk of a “deal” for the ship he’d had up for sale last year for more than $1 million.
“I don’t believe I’m going to get anything out of it,” said Letnik Tuesday. “But it’s better than having the ship go to the scrapyard.”
So. At best, we have a guy who will maybe be taking the boat off Letnik’s hands but possibly not paying for the privilege.
Wednesday, February 6, 7:51 am
The Spectator updates its story with new information that casts doubt on the whole thing.
From Letnik:
But other parties involved in Maga’s plan say the deal isn’t sealed. “Captain” John Letnik, who has owned and operated the restaurant since 1975, confirmed Maga is in the process of purchasing the ship, but said the sale hasn’t closed.
“It’s in the works,” Letnik said. “We are still in process. I would like to think that things materialize, but nothing has been finalized yet.”
From the Hamilton Port Authority:
“We can confirm that we have been approached by Mr. Maga, but we haven’t received detailed information about his proposal at this point,” a Port Authority spokesperson said via email.
From other people who would know:
Hamilton Waterfront Trust executive director Werner Plessl, downtown Councillor Jason Farr, and the city’s planning and economic development chief Tim McCabe all said they were unaware of Maga’s plans.
Wednesday, February 6, 1:45 pm
Torontoist picks up the Spec story and performs a backbreaker on it:
In a brief phone conversation last night with Torontoist, Maga clarified the situation. He hasn’t actually closed on the boat, though he’s currently in discussions with Letnik and Hamilton waterfront authorities. He hopes to finalize the deal soon. “I’m more than interested,” he said.
Jim Serba, who, as the operator of SaveCaptainJohn.org, is the closest thing Letnik has to a press secretary (we weren’t able to reach the captain himself), confirmed that the boat remains on the market. “There have been ongoing discussions with with several potential buyers over the last 12 months including recent discussions with a business man from Hamilton,” he wrote in an email.
Not just any business man from Hamilton. A business man who is more than interested.
Maga shows up a few times in the Spec’s archives. In 2000, he was involved in an apparently unsuccessful bid to revive a troubled Volkswagen dealership. In 2002, he was trying to market a Chinese-built device that would override a car’s stereo to warn its driver of approaching emergency vehicles. In 2011, his bid to buy a Hamilton school building was stymied by vandalism that left the place in ruins. Also, he was reportedly barred from visiting his daughter’s school for two years because of a dispute with the principal, over school administration issues, that escalated into a criminal harassment suit. The charges against Maga were dismissed in 2007.
Well, that’s that. Perhaps one day someone will restore Captain John’s to its former glory, when it offered food beyond both compare and belief.
