Sault council agrees to buy former hospital property for $4.75M

Sault decides to buy former hospital property City council in Sault Ste. Marie is proceeding with a plan to buy the former hospital to convert it into residential units.

City council in Sault Ste. Marie has decided to purchase the former general hospital site, with an eye on demolishing the property and selling it to a buyer serious about redevelopment.

Vacant, and falling into disrepair, the site has sat vacant for the last 13 years, with the most notable changes being fencing to keep out squatters.

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said the current owner wasn't doing anything with the site.

"This property owner was only interested in meeting the absolute bare minimum of our property standards bylaw, and that meant a barb-wire fence around the property and boarded-up windows," Shoemaker said.

"That’s how it would sit for the next decade if we didn’t take action."

Long considered an eye-sore, neighbours we spoke with were glad to hear of coming changes to the property. And city staff said they have discussed redevelopment with a number of local developers, with plenty of interest in the waterfront location.

"It really looks at, taking propositions from developers. That would be residential, commercial," said CAO Tom Vair.

"It's wide open for them to come back with their concepts. Council indicated last night they would like to show some preference for some affordable housing. So, we'll work that into the RFP. But we'll leave it open for people to come with their concepts."

The purchase price is $4.75 million and the municipality expects to sell it for roughly $2.5 million.

Demolition will likely cost more than $4 million, but the city will not be covering that cost.

"We have never owned this property, but we will own it in the near future," Shoemaker said.

"When we go to resell it, we can impose conditions on time frames for redevelopment, time frames for demolition, which we’ve never had the authority to do. That’s something the city is now going to hold the levers on."

Shoemaker expects that the old hospital will be sold, demolished and work on a new development will be started before the end of next year.

The mayor says the city should break even on the deal in at least five to seven years.