POT BUILDINGS BOTH HAVE SAME OWNER

Two buildings - one in Barrie and another in Oro-Medonte Township - where
massive indoor marijuana grow operations were discovered during raids last
weekend, are owned by real estate magnate Vince De Rosa, police confirmed
this week.

"He owns both spots and there's marijuana growing at both spots. We'll
definitely be looking into that coincidence," said Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum
of the Ontario Provincial Police.

De Rosa's Fercan Developments, a Toronto-based real estate management
company, owns the landmark former Molson brewery where police seized 30,000
plants from a vast hydroponic growing operation thought to be the largest
uncovered in North America.

Police executed a second search warrant Saturday at another well-known
location for cottage commuters, a one-time shopping mall complex once
anchored by Fuda's supermarket, where they seized 3,000 more hydroponic pot
plants.

The building, at 2921 Highway 11, in Oro-Medonte Township, is owned by
1071118 Ontario Ltd., land registry records indicate.

Corporate company records show that 1071118 Ontario Ltd. is another of De
Rosa's companies.

"We'll definitely be looking to speak to Mr. De Rosa and find out why it
would happen; that's pretty logical," Barnum said.

There are about a half-dozen businesses in Oro Centre complex, including a
Canada Post office and a bailiff's office.

Fercan Developments owns a number of properties across southern Ontario,
including Hamilton's City Centre.

De Rosa has not returned calls from reporters.

But Fercan executive Italo Ferrari has repeatedly denied knowing anything
about the marijuana operation and has said they're landlords to many
properties. "We don't know who comes and who goes," he said.

The high-tech marijuana factory inside the brewery escaped attention for
more than a year, police said, despite being next to Highway 400.

According to Barrie's chief building official, Gord Allison, no building
permit applications were made by Fercan after purchasing the building for
$8 million in 2001, even though it housed a number of businesses along with
the marijuana grow operation.

"The way that Molson had it set up, the building was already divided into
areas big enough to accommodate different businesses," said Allison.

With no building permit application, "there was no reason for us to conduct
inspections," he said.

The Barrie fire department inspected the building after Fercan purchased it
and found it in good order, said assistant fire chief Cynthia Ross Tustin.
"There was no reason for us to go back in there. It's not like a nursing
home, for example, where we make regular inspections. This was a steel and
concrete building with a sprinkler system."

Police video footage showed a high-wired tropical jungle of marijuana
plants, grown through computer-controlled environments that included the
use of giant beer vats as hothouses for germinating seeds.