Major projects to convert two historic downtown buildings into badly needed residential units — more than 100 apartments including loft-style residences with soaring ceilings — cleared major hurdles this week at a city committee meeting.
The 12-storey art deco-styled Canada Building at 374 Ouellette Ave. was recommended by council’s development and heritage standing committee for $412,780 in incentives from the Downtown Community Improvement Plan. The project involves converting largely vacant office space in the top 10 floors into 88 residential units, and renovating the bottom two floors for commercial.
“The city’s policies definitely make a difference
At the same meeting, a project involving massive renovations to the circa-1922 Knights of Columbus auditorium building — about 28,000 square feet of long-vacant space which stretches between the 700 blocks of Ouellette Avenue and Pelissier Street — was recommended for permits to allow the demolition of the auditorium’s distinctive wood flooring and plaster ceiling which are protected for their heritage value. Those features as well as the exteriors on both the Ouellette and Pelissier sides were designated by council in 2013.
But the building has been let go, Jackie Lassaline, a planner representing the new owner.
“It’s not salvageable, it’s demolition by neglect,” she said, citing holes and extensive water damage to both the ceiling and floor. She said the building has been vacant and neglected for years. Leaks in the ceiling have gone unrepaired and people have broken in and caused extensive damage. In some places, the plaster ceiling no longer exists, she said.
“Regrettably, there’s not enough money in the world that would be able to salvage this.”
Local realtor Rhys Trenhaile, who is leading both projects, said the floor was further damaged by someone screwing cheap linoleum over top.
“It’s totally destroyed, there’s no salvaging the hardwood floor, but we are salvaging what I consider the most important bits to the community which is the front facade and back facade,” he said. “We’re going to bring those right back to what they looked like 100 years ago. They’re going to be beautiful.
The committee’s recommendations still have to be approved by council. They pave the way to start moving on remediation of hazardous materials like lead paint and asbestos, and then demolition of the interior, with construction starting within months, Trenhaile said. An earlier plan to divide the high-ceiling auditorium into two separate floors turned out to be cost-prohibitive, so the plan is now to add a third storey and make the auditorium into “beautiful loft-style apartments with full mezzanines.”
The plan calls for 28 rental units and four retail spaces fronting Ouellette. Construction should take about a year.
Abatement and interior demolition at the Canada Building will probably start in about 30 days. Construction will last about a year and four months.
Both projects will take advantage of the city’s CIP for the downtown, created by council in 2017 to encourage downtown development, particularly residential, and the sprucing up of existing buildings. Since 2017 there has been a procession of applications, for both big and small projects, to the CIP. The city has also created additional CIPs for neighbourhoods like Ford City.
The CIP waives development fees, pays up to $5,000 for every new residential unit created to a maximum of $50,000, provides grants to help fix up the exterior facade and renovate the interior ground floor for commercial uses, and provides a rebate for five or 10 years of the extra municipal taxes paid when a property is improved. The Canada Building was recommended for $30,000 to help improve its front facade, $50,000 for its new residential units and a grant of $33,278 each year for 10 years to rebate its municipal tax increase.
At Monday’s meeting, the committee also recommended CIP incentives for storefront improvements at 490-495 Pelissier, the renovation of the former Bentley’s Roadhouse at 747 Ouellette, and storefront improvements at 1012 Drouillard Road (under the Ford City CIP).
“The city’s policies definitely make a difference,” Trenhaile said. “They’re very creative and they create a win/win situation between what the city needs and what the business person needs.”
He said the current trend of redeveloping downtown properties is a positive byproduct of rapidly rising real estate values.
“These properties have been stilling there derelict and vacant because the cost of renovating them wasn’t profitable for developers,” he said. “Now that the property values are higher we’re able to take these old dilapidated buildings and convert them.”