Posted 1 day ago

DENIS LANGLOIS

Sun Times staff

Owen Sound has listed for sale the two-storey former Todd’s Sporting Goods building in the city’s downtown, just 16 months after buying it for $300,000.

“There’s only so many buildings that the city wants to retain and it boils down to dollars and cents,” Mayor Deb Haswell said Wednesday in an interview.

A listing for the property, which is at 80 9th St. E., has been posted on the city’s website. The asking price is $300,000.

Owen Sound bought the 15,600-square-foot building in early 2010 as an “insurance policy” in case contractors inadvertently damaged it during work to replace the 9th St. bridge, which is just inches away, Haswell said. The city owns the land underneath.

At the time of purchase, former mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners said council also saw the transaction as a way to improve the area.

“It will be an opportunity to do what we’re asking other people to do. We’re purchasing a building that needs to be improved and we’re going to do it, whether it’s for our own purposes or for a group or business,” Lovell Stanners said in a January 2010 interview.

Haswell said the city has “enough of a challenge to maintain” its other buildings, such as the derelict Canadian Pacific Railway station and the old courthouse, without taking on additional real estate.

“I don’t think the city, at this point, is looking to own anymore buildings,” she said.

On Wednesday, workers were removing two old tanks — believed to be fuel tanks — from beside the city-owned building, which is on the northwest corner of 9th St. and 1st Ave. E.

Brad McRoberts, the city’s director of operations, said samples of the material underneath the tanks will be sent in for analysis to ensure there is no contamination. The results are not expected for a few weeks, he said. The city was aware the tanks were there, he said.

Haswell said the building was not damaged during the replacement of the 9th St. bridge and inspectors have confirmed it is “safe, secure and sound.”

The city purchased the building from Todd’s Sports Equipment Ltd. The deal closed in January 2010.

The building’s second floor is separated into two large rooms, which have been empty for years. Most of the main floor has also been vacant, although OPSEU rented space in 2008 as its headquarters for a strike by Grey Bruce Health Unit support workers.

dlanglois@thesuntimes.ca

Advertisement