After the financial crisis, the Huot Group was forced to give up the keys to the last rental complexes it owned.
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“He has nothing left. As they say in the casino: Nothing works. I think Stéphan Huot was aware that he would lose everything. Completely,” a source familiar with the matter told us.
“It’s like over. Huot Group employed about 700 people in February. There’s 5 or 6 left… and they’re under the authority of the recipient,” explains another.
At the end of July, our investigative agency learned, the fallen businessman voluntarily gave up his last four rental complexes in favor of one of his creditors, Potenza Capital.
The Huot Group is therefore selling the Camomille and the Triplex du Petit Mesnil condominiums in Lebourgneuf. He also renounced the Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère — which notably included a restaurant and flight school — and the adjoining apartments near Quebec City Airport.
Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère, located near Quebec Airport. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
These buildings have a combined value of more than $37 million, according to land registry records.
No participation
Recall that already last June, the Huot Group had to give up seven other complexes in the greater Quebec City area, which included about 2,000 rental units.
These buildings – Les 7 Elements, Les Diplomates, La Cité M, Les Façades du Mesnil, Ariela, La Consolata and Les Méandres Business Center – are now subject to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The court appointed a liquidator to sell these buildings and compensate creditors.
Stéphan Huot would also have nothing to do with the Aventura and Altitude rentals in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, as well as the Riviera project in Père-Lelièvre. Business partners would pay “millions of dollars a month” to cover the deficits for these buildings and wait for a solution.
Stéphan Huot, during the press conference on the L’Altitude rental housing project in 2015. DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE/JOURNAL DE QU
building for sale
The Huot Group is also attempting to sell an administration building for USD 7.3 million which, among other things, housed the STEPHAN/H workshops.
The Huot Group has put up for sale this industrial building on Kepler Street in Quebec City, which notably housed the Arrow and STEPHAN/H offices. Centris screenshot
According to our information, this other subsidiary of the group, which produced high-quality clothing for helicopter pilots, would have ceased its activities.
Stéphan Huot poses proudly next to a pilot’s suit designed by one of his companies, STEPHAN/H, which no longer exists. Archive photo
This building also houses the administrative offices of Arrow, a division of the Huot Group that offers temporary housing rentals. Arrow’s assets were acquired by Simon Landry last year, he confirmed.
It was impossible for us to reach Stéphan Huot, who now manages his communications alone.
debacle
Keep in mind that other Huot Group subsidiaries have been struggling in recent months.
Millenum Construction filed for $84 million in bankruptcy last June. The following month, Airmedic, which owed approximately $105 million, was placed under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The Transrapide distribution center placed itself under the protection of the same law last May. Stéphan Huot is no longer involved in these companies.
The businessman also had to slow down his pace of life drastically, in recent months he has mainly put his luxurious house in Quebec, his condominium in Florida, his grandiose chalet in the north and his Bentley up for sale, and he has also found a new home at the end of a project for a new apartment building, as already announced by our investigation office.
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