Mississauga Greek group sues over alleged Orthodox church deal

A Greek community group in Mississauga is accusing a wealthy businessman of breaking his promise to build a landmark Orthodox church, a holy goal they claim to have been working on for 34 years.

The group, called the Greek Canadian Community of Peel and Halton, is suing Gerry Farantatos, an affiliated company and his family charity for $11 million, arguing they had a deal to help pave the way for residential construction on a tract of land in exchange for financing to build a church.

Farantatos denies there was ever a binding deal to fund the church and is contesting the lawsuit, according to court documents.

At the end of the day, we want to say to our grandkids, We did something better, said Bill Kanellopoulos, who sits on the Greek Canadian groups board of directors.

We want to contribute to the Canadian community and put a Greek flavour and taste into this community.

Farantatos lawyer, John Buhlman, told the Star in an email that his client wanted to build a church, but decided it was untenable after he commissioned a Deloitte report that determined the community group would have trouble paying the operating costs for such a building.

The facts are that while our client was never obligated to build a church, he always intended to do so, Buhlman said.

Maintenance of the church by the community would indeed be a problem, since for many years the church had very few members, and so far the church has not been built.

The alleged deal to build the St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church dates to 1980, according to court documents.

At that time, the Greek Canadian group was eyeing a tract of land near McLaughlin Rd. and what is now Highway 407 for a possible church and community centre, Kanellopoulos told the Star in an interview Wednesday.

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Mississauga Greek group sues over alleged Orthodox church deal