By Pepper Parr
September 1st, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Whenever the ADI Development Group is in the news, it usually isn’t a pretty story.
Early rendering of Nautique, an ADI development.
This time, it was a court case that they won. They are permitted to buy out their partner, Morgan Investments Group Inc. (MIG)
MIG partnered with ADI to get the Nautique, a development through the final stages of development at Lakeshore Road and Martha.
That development was a pivotal item that resulted in high rise towers being developed south of Fairview in the city.
Denise Baker, a lawyer with one of the best law firms in the development business convinced the then OMB that a transit station on John Street was part of a transit system that was needed to justify a high rise tower. The transit station was not much more than a transfer point where passengers could transfer from one bus line to another and purchase bus tickets. The city has since closed the station and will, at some point in the near probably, tear it down.
Baker did a superb job – my only regret was that I wasn’t in the room to hear her plead the case.
The Nautique decision was one of the events that brought an end to Rick Goldring serving as Mayor.
The development ran into every possible problem: the pandemic didn’t help.
A Superior Court Judge recently ruled that Adi Development Group can buy out its business partner on Burlington’s Nautique waterfront condo, for about $18.4 million. It was a bitter battle for control of the site.
The Morgan Investments Group Inc., an investment firm led by Nigel Morgan, and Adi Development Group, led by Tariq Adi, came together in 2014 to build the 25-storey, 254-unit project.
Unit sales did not go particularly well.
The project also made headlines in late 2022.
The early marketing included prices that will not, if ever, be seen again.
After complaints from buyers that they were asked to pay more than they originally agreed for units, and told they would have their purchase agreements cancelled if they refused, Adi Morgan Development Group (Lakeshore) Inc. paid a $60,000 penalty and $2.6 million to purchasers as part of a settlement with the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA).
The dispute landed in civil court earlier this month, with the two parties disagreeing even on whether the project was completely finished, and each one looking to buy out the other and end the relationship.
The parties were deadlocked and unable to make decisions on, among other things, the price of the remaining 54 unsold units. The building faced COVID delays and then the collapse of the condo market. Morgan’s camp thought the units were overpriced, Adi’s said they had responded to the market with a good pricing strategy.
The ADI brothers. They were new to Burlington in 2000. Their first development on Guelph Line was a low-rise structure that proved to be popular.
Morgan’s legal team had asked for a “shotgun” sale, a mechanism where one or more of the shareholders buys out the shares of another. Morgan had also wanted to see Adi replaced as the exclusive listing agent, and to add a third board member.
In the August 27th decision, Justice William Black ruled that Adi could buy out Morgan, for about $18.4 million.
The justice found there was oppression on both sides, a legal term that basically means they were unfair to each other — Adi said Morgan bought out a loan without his knowledge to gain the upper hand, and Morgan said Adi did not share enough financial information and decision-making with him.
“This was a just outcome and a spectacular victory for us,” said Justin Nasseri, one of Adi’s lawyers. “ADI has steered the ship to safety. Its focus will be on homeowners and customers and delivering value to them while we sell the balance of the units,” he added.
Morgan Investment Group declined to provide a comment on the decision.
On the justice’s finding of oppression, Nasseri said Adi “acted in good faith and ethically at all times.”
The unravelling of the relationship in court offered a glimpse behind the scenes into the tough conversations developers are having across the GTA, as the condo market falters.
The Toronto-area average condo price dropped to $615,000 in July, the lowest in four years.
Meeting the 180 day timeline was not a priority of the Planning and Legal Dept. managers responsible for this file. It was not seen as a key issue, something that really mattered, so it wasn’t managed to any effect.
Without apparently caring, they took the risk that ADI would not appeal on the “no decision” grounds, and lost, with the key consequence that the public meeting, delegations, Councilors’ debate and vote on the staff refusal recommendation report at Committee was cancelled, and Council lost control of the issue to the Legals and the OMB.
Even worse, the senior Planners on the file found out that Adi was warned 2 days ahead of the deadline, and Senior Management staff wasted weeks of usable time to bring the staff report for refusal but did not bother.
So, Baker got the heads up and the sense that Adi was favored, and the COB staff witnesses were advised that they had been betrayed and things went downhill from there.
For sure, this was an ADI development that changed the way the city has grown. Play with the OLT deadline for a decision for leverage in getting more, and/or just take the automatic right to appeal that is a given. The developer can’t lose, and has the City over a barrel.
Having been in the room. Two things, Baker rightly used Burlington’s identification of the bus station as a mobility hub within x metres of the proposed development against the city. While COB witnesses seemed ill prepared for questioning by Ms. Baker.