Former bikers’ clubhouse sold

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/08/2015 (3953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took five years, but the province has now wiped its hands clean of the former Hells Angels clubhouse on Scotia Street.

The riverbank property in north Winnipeg recently sold to a private buyer for $248,000, Re/Max listing agent Cliff King said Monday. The asking price was $275,000.

The single-storey house, built in 1954, has sat vacant since being raided by police on July 29, 2010.

“It definitely needs more than a coat of paint,” King said, adding the new owners plan to fully renovate the home.

In booting the outlaw bikers out of the 2,865-square-foot house, police seized it under the province’s Criminal Property Forfeiture Act. That set off a long court process, which finally saw an end June 24 when Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brenda Keyser signed off on an order authorizing its sale.

King said the house sold within 10 days once viewings started, relatively quick for a former biker party house. He said on average, a house in Winnipeg is on the market for about 40 days.

The house and property have a 2014 assessed value of $342,000, but that might be pushing the envelope.

Kind said the riverbank in front of the house is unstable and needs to be fixed, and a recent condo development immediately to the north overlooks the other side of the once-private property.

One reason the court process took as long as it did is that Leonard Beauchemin, the listed owner of the clubhouse, died in 2013.

Justice officials said Beauchemin, a Hells Angels associate, was only listed as owner in an attempt by the Hells Angels to bog down the legal process because he wasn’t a full-patch member.

“The clubhouse serves as a symbol to rival criminal organizations of their presence and domination over unlawful activity in the area,” Det.-Sgt. Ken Downs wrote in an affidavit filed in support of the forfeiture.

“It provides a base of operations, a place to make social ties and recruit new members, is a safe area to conspire about the commission of unlawful acts… and allows the Hells Angels to commit unlawful activities in secrecy.”

Under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act, property used in, and proceeds from, unlawful acts may be forfeited to the government by order of the court. Proceeds from the sale of forfeited property are placed in a fund to compensate victims of crime and pay for programs that reduce or prevent crime.

In the past, monies seized under the act have gone toward police agencies throughout the province, mostly to purchase new equipment such as digital fingerprinting systems, encrypted radio systems, a robot used to detonate suspected explosives, surveillance equipment for the Winnipeg Police Service and an unmanned aerial device for search-and-rescue missions.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca