West Village Lofts

History of West Village Lofts

Frank Roberts invented the ObusForme back support in the late 1970s to ease his own back pain and founded the company in 1980. It became one of Canada's great marketing successes, with more than two million back rests sold in Canada, the U.S. and 26 other countries and sales of around $20 million a year, all from this plain factory on Hopewell Avenue, where Roberts was photographed at work in 1988.

On a Thursday morning in 1998, Roberts parked his black Mercedes in his space outside the factory at about 7:30 and was shot as he went to the trunk. He died on the way to Sunnybrook Hospital, and the killing, which looked like a professional hit, has never been solved. His son Brian bought out his share and expanded the business, but ObusForme went into receivership in 2008.

By then the company had moved out. Stafford Homes, through Five Fifty Hopewell Limited, began selling lofts here in the summer of 2004, and the condominium was registered in 2006. The 29 lofts on three floors have 12-foot ceilings, exposed steel beams and ducts, polished concrete floors and big new commercial windows; ground-floor units have their own doors. The stucco front has Art Deco details that echo the old Coats Paton factory, now the Forest Hill Lofts, across the Belt Line.