Deal brewing for sale of old Sault Area Hospital site

A conditional agreement has been reached for sale of all or part of the old Sault Area Hospital site to a southern Ontario assets manager known for breathing new life into underperforming properties.

If the deal closes, the waterfront site will be acquired by Wilsondale Assets Management Inc., based in Vaughan, Ont.

Wilsondale boasts 2.5 million square feet of office, retail/commercial, industrial properties and vacant development land including an 11-story commercial tower in St. Catharines and the 11-storey building that houses the Windsor office of Sutherland Global Services Inc.

The Sault property at 941 Queen St. E. is currently owned by Toronto-based TVM Group.

TVM president Amit Sofer describes the conditional agreement as "very preliminary."

Parties are currently conducting due diligence on the proposed sale.

If the deal doesn't close, Sofer tells SooToday that other developers have expressed interest in the old hospital site.

The Queen Street site was to be a later phase of TVM's Riverwalk residential condominium development. The company announced in May, 2017 that it was deferring Phase 2 of the project, which was to take place at the remaining part of the former Plummer site, "due to challenging and uncertain economic conditions." 

Sofer says TVM has other properties in the Sault and is definitely not withdrawing from this market.

The old hospital sits on a 13.9-acre site that's considered "a potential multi-residential redevelopment opportunity with a 200,000-square-foot former hospital facility located on the west side of the site and a 85,000-square-foot building on the east side of the site," says the real estate listing.

"The site is zoned as C3 (riverfront zone) which allows for many tourism uses as well as residential buildings. The project lends itself naturally to an immediate conversion to purpose built multi-residential apartment building or would also be a great waterfront land holding opportunity."