One question keeps coming up when Connie Raynor-Elliott talks to people about the new Withdrawal Management site currently under construction on Old Garden River Road at the former Sault Star building.
“A lot of people ask that question: 'Why didn’t they just build their own building or buy a building instead of leasing it?'” said Raynor-Elliott, the founder of Save our Young Adults (SOYA), a Sault Ste. Marie organization that provides front-line services to people living with addiction.
Funded by the Ministry of Health and operated by Sault Area Hospital, the all-new Residential Withdrawal Management and Safe Beds will eventually take up about 16,000 square feet in the building, once renovations are complete. An additional 10,000 square feet in the building has not yet been allocated to be occupied.
The building was purchased for $1.25 million in 2017 by DiTommaso Investments after decades of housing the offices of the Sault Star. A large percentage of the building is now receiving a top-to-bottom $18-million-plus retrofit — on the public’s dime — for the future Withdrawal Management site.
“It doesn’t make sense for our funding to support their wealth,” said Raynor-Elliott. “Everyone is in it to make a buck, that’s standard, but a lot of people ask me why they didn’t build a new building? Why didn’t they buy a building?”
SooToday reached out to the building's owner on Monday with questions but has yet to receive a response from Fausto DiTommaso.
Reached for comment, SAH spokesperson Brandy Sharp Young said the Ministry of Health did not provide a purchase option under its funding model for withdrawal management sites. Instead, the facility is going ahead as a leasehold improvement project with a 20-year lease.
“Under this funding model, the Ministry requires a minimum period of lease length based on the anticipated cost of the project to ensure a fair return on investment,” said Sharp Young.
Why not build the facility within Sault Area Hospital?
For almost three years, SAH has been delivering the Residential Withdrawal Management program directly within space at the hospital. This became necessary after a fire forced the closure of the Detox Centre on Queen Street in March 2020.
At the time of its closure, that 2,900 square foot facility on Queen Street was being leased from the charitable Sault Area Hospital Foundation for $40,800.
The benefit of that arrangement, where the building was owned by the foundation, is some of that rent money would go right back to the hospital through the charitable disbursements the foundation makes to buy new equipment and other supports for SAH, as well as some of the rent going toward the foundation's operating expenses.
"Rental income received by the SAH Foundation was considered a revenue source for the foundation," said Sharp Young.
SAH Foundation executive director Teresa Martone declined an interview request for this article.
In May 2021, when the $343,000 in annual operating funds was announced, then-SAH President and CEO Wendy Hansson told SooToday the hospital is not the "correct location for the permanent Residential Withdrawal Management site due to COVID-19, capacity and space issues."
Timmins and District Hospital (TADH) took a different approach, building its Withdrawal Management Unit directly in the hospital. The new facility opened in March of this year.
”We’re currently operating seven withdrawal management beds, two residential supportive treatment beds and two addictions treatment beds within the unit,” said TADH spokesperson Kaileigh Russell.
TADH also offers a Community Withdrawal Management Service.
”This service brings services and supports where the person is residing, like in their home, the home of a family member, shelter or other place,” said Russell. “This outreach service provides supportive treatment for individuals who experience acute withdrawal, allowing them to withdraw from substances in the place they reside.”
Consolidating services in the future?
Site reviews were completed based on current provincial standards for Withdrawal Management Services, including proximity to hospital and emergency services, physical space, "green" space to facilitate comfort and leisure activities, future expansion, as well as accessibility to public transportation and parking, among other criteria.
”The 145 Old Garden River Road site allows for potential future consolidation and co-location of all SAH’s community mental health and addictions programs,” said Sharp Young.
The project was kicked off in May 2021 with the announcement of $343,000 in ongoing operational funding by the Ontario government, followed by an announcement in April of this year of more than $18 million in capital funding from the province.
In a recent interview, Sault MPP Ross Romano clarified the yearly $343,000 in funding is mostly going toward rent.
“When I made the announcement I was very clear about it at the time and several times since then, the $343,000 is only for the purposes of rent,” said Romano.
Raynor-Elliott, who has her ear pretty close to the ground on the addiction and mental health projects in the city, told SooToday it was the first time she heard that operational funding was going toward rent.
In 2017, the same year the Sault Star building sold to DiTommaso Investments, SAH asked the then-Ontario Liberal government for an $11 million facility to house its mental health and addictions services under one roof. At the time, Romano was freshly voted in as a member of the opposition Ontario PC party and began advocating for the project.
“Obviously the former government did not approve that ask in 2017 and by the time we [Ontario PC] formed government in 2018, or shortly thereafter, the ask from the hospital changed and it increased dramatically and started to take into consideration numerous other outpatient services,” said Romano.
“It’s also important to note we did not end up consolidating those services under one roof. All of those services that existed, like the RAAM Clinic, and so many other services are still in existence in the community,” said Romano.
But Sault Area Hospital staff says putting all of those services under one roof is still the plan and the yet-to-be allocated 10,000 square feet of space at the former Sault Star is the preferred location.
”Acquiring additional space at 145 Old Garden River Road would be necessary for the potential future consolidation and co-location of SAH’s community mental health and addictions programs,” said Sharp Young.
The cost of leasing the building for the first 10 years is $384,000 per year, or about $24 per square foot. The cost for the lease adjusts at year 10, based on the accumulated Consumer Price Index, and will then be locked in for the final 10 years of the lease.
Return on investment
After an initial investment of $1.25 million to buy the former Sault Star building, DiTommaso Investments will be on receiving end of more than $18 million worth of upgrades at least $7.5 million in rent over the 20-year life of the lease.
Raynor-Elliott said that is a lot of public money going to improve one piece of private property in the city. She wonders if that money could be better spent within the public system.
“All of this money is coming from the province and the building owners are getting a freebie, people don’t know that,” said Raynor-Elliott. “I just know the questions people are asking. People want to know and they have a right to know.”
According to its most recent progress report, Sault Area Hospital said the plumbing and electrical rough in, as well as HVAC duct work installation, was expected to be complete by end of October.
$1 Million donation
A $1 million donation from the Algoma Steel to Sault Area Hospital Foundation will supplement the provincial funding and be used to finish the outdoor areas of the property, including courtyard spaces, as well as outdoor furniture and fixtures.
Raynor-Elliott said some have criticized the decision to use the $1 million on the exterior of the building, instead of funding the recently cancelled Concurrent Disorders Intensive Day Treatment program, also operated by SAH.
“When they posted about the million dollars, everyone said why can’t that go to the [Day] Treatment Centre?” said Raynor-Elliott. “It’s because we need operating costs from the provincial government and people still can’t get their heads wrapped around that.”
Sharp Young said SAH has requested the $750,000 in annual funding from Health Canada and Ontario Health that is needed to operate the program.
Raynor-Elliott said the money being spent on upgrading the grounds is important to not make the facility feel like a prison.
"A lot of people we do assist have already been incarcerated, they are making it like a home atmosphere," she said.
Changing deadlines
When the capital funding for the project was announced in May, the completion date cited was December 2022. SAH provided an updated 'Spring 2023' expected completion date earlier this year. Although a great deal of progress has been made, the facility is still very much a work in progress.
In May 2021, when the $343,000 in operating funds was first announced, Romano said the facility would be operational "within eight to 12 months."
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