Announcement expected on Gateway property

There's finally some movement on the Sault's long-dormant Gateway site.

Reporters who regularly cover City Council have been called to a media briefing Thursday on a "proposed non-tourism development" on the waterfront property bordered by Bay Street and St. Mary's River Drive.

A report on the project will be on the agenda for Monday's meeting of City Council.

A number of proposals have been made for the property over the past two decades, most notably Philip Garforth's grandiose scheme for a $54-million rainforest bio-dome tourist attraction.

The city pulled the plug on Garforth in 2007, claiming breached obligations.

In 2010, City Council gave Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. a two-year mandate to develop the still-wanting-to-happen 14-acre site.

In 2015, Canal Village Development Corp. proposed to develop the Gateway lands but walked away from the project after it was revealed that a member of its development team identified as Shaun Rothberg was actually Shaun Rootenberg, who did time at Correctional Service Canada’s Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst after pleading guilty to multiple counts of fraud.

Algoma Steel's settling ponds were once located on the property, which is adjacent to Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie.

SooToday will have additional details on this story as soon as they are available.