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The security company responsible for the search of the old General Hospital no longer guarantees the safety of this dilapidated property.
Nicolas Rabaa, president of RLP Security Services Ltd. , said his company stopped providing security for the decrepit Queen Street E for Leisure Meadows Community Living as of March 16. No further details were revealed.
In an email sent to So Today, Woodbridge, Ontario, developer Italo Ferrari, the questionable general manager and public face of Leisure Meadows, is confident to the public that the site remains safe, despite a series of reports last week suggesting the exact opposite.
“We need to reassure the public that the General Hospital site is safe and monitored by staff,” Ferrari said. “In accordance with city charters, more structural fencing will be installed as we continue to clean up the site and prepare for the long term. “developments. “
The former hospital at 941 Queen Street East has been a hot topic in the city for the past two years. Things came to a head in December 2022, when the city council engaged Ferrari in a heated debate for about an hour over the decrepit former sites of General and Plummer hospitals at a council meeting.
When confronted by council members at the assembly, Ferrari used the word “concentration camp” to describe what the decrepit hospital site would look like if it were solidly fenced off, prompting two council members to leave the assembly because of the comment. apologized to the municipality, hours after being publicly reprimanded through Sault Ste. Marie. Marie, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker.
The city council voted in favour of the expropriation and demolition of the deserted houses, while contemplating stricter enforcement measures. The demolition is estimated to cost approximately $6 million, in addition to additional eminent domain, insurance and environmental liability charges.
At one point, Ferrari had high hopes for the former hospital properties: In 2022, as he said today, he plans to convert the empty General Hospital into a long-term care facility and renovate 82 apartments in the five-story PlummerArray. A further 65 semi-detached houses have also been renovated.
These plans have failed over the years and the General and Plummer hospital sites remain abandoned.
The former General Hospital garnered 72 visits from law enforcement officials between April and December 2022. The former Plummer Renal Unit, located at 995 Queen Street East, garnered 36 visits in the same period. Most of the visits were to clad the buildings or clean up the backyard.
In May 2023, Leisure Meadows filed a motion with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, an injunction preventing the city from enforcing provisions of its asset charter related to vacated, demolished, and destroyed buildings.
The developer is also seeking a declaration from the city of Sault Ste. Marie. Marie said the contested part of her ordinance on land criteria was “vague, illegal and unenforceable. “
The civil case arose after city officials demanded that Leisure Meadows provide a safety team of workers to monitor construction (24 hours a day, seven days a week) and keep records. The company also ordered to inform the city that it had received liability insurance worth at least $2 million for each construction.
The request for an injunction was rejected by Leisure Meadows earlier this month, according to court records.
As it stands, Ferrari and Leisure Meadows appear to have their remodeling plans on the ice: As previously reported via soToday, Leisure Meadows has put the former Plummer Hospital site at 995 Queen St. E. up for sale – at a price époustouflant. de $3. 6 million – in October of last year.
This is more than 4 times the amount for which the old kidney construction was purchased.
Publicly available documents from the provincial land registry office show that Leisure Meadows, a subsidiary of Wilsondale Assets Management Inc. , acquired the site of the former hospital from the Sault domain in 2019 for a total of $1. 3 million: $450,000 for the site of the former General Hospital and $850,000 for the website of the former General Hospital. Plummer website.
“Personally, I think they’re asking for a lot more than they’re worth, but the market will dictate what it’s worth,” Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said in a December 2023 interview in our So Today studio. .
The site of another failed Ferrari expansion, the former St. LouisJohn’s School. Veronica on the city’s west side, demolished last summer, with a sign promoting the future expansion of the “East Balfour Residences. “
As sooToday has reported in the past, RSG General Contracting filed a civil lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court last January, claiming $81,370 for fabrics provided (plus the same amount in breach of contract damages) after completing demolition paints and cutting sewer infrastructure last year. . 309 East Balfour Street for an organization of Southern Ontario corporations related to Ferrari.
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