One arrested in connection to fire at future home of Unity Project

One person has been charged with arson in connection to a fire in the Old East Village Thursday afternoon, which damaged a building.

The fire comes just two weeks after the building at 790 Dundas St. was purchased by the Unity Project, a long-established social services agency in the neighbourhood.

“I saw him go in, I saw him come out,” said Wally Watson, who owns Old East Exchange, which is next door to the building that burned.

Watson says he saw it all go down, beginning with a man pushing a shopping cart down the centre of the road and go into the back of the building.

“And as soon as he came out, that’s when we smelled the smoke. And that’s when we went down, other people phoned the police and [the fire department], but then I showed the police where he was and they went and picked him up,” said Watson.

Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson was also in the area when the sky over Old East filled with smoke. She says she’s glad no-one was hurt.

“It’s never a good thing, right? There’s already public safety concerns. We’ve had a few fires set outside of buildings, you know. There’s a lot of anxiety in the neighbourhood around, being at risk,” said Stevenson.

The London Fire Department attended the scene of an active fire at 784 Dundas Street on September 7, 2023. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

Police say a 38-year-old London man has been charged with arson in connection to the fire. Damage is estimated at $250,000.

The building was purchased two weeks ago by the Unity Project, an organization that provides relief of homelessness for those in need.

Executive Director Chuck Lazenby says they had planned on moving into the space eventually, relocating from their existing site on Dundas Street.

“And for us, it’s about a purpose-built facility that would accommodate our services for us to move into,” said Lazenby. “We’re not intending on operating services out of two properties, but to move our services to that property at some point in the next few years.”

Lazenby confirmed the building was purchased by the charitable organization for $1.575 million - money raised through federal funding and granting agency, Community Living London.