VIDEO: Old hospital 'a blight on our waterfront,' mayor says

The most controversial property in town — the old hospital site on Queen Street — is making headlines yet again.

As SooToday reported on Friday, the company that owns the former General and Plummer properties has put part of the land — the old renal building — up for sale.

The asking price is $3.6-million, more than four times the $850,000 that Leisure Meadows Community Living Inc. paid for the former Plummer property in 2019.

Asked on Friday to comment on the real estate listing, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker did not mince words.

“The site of the former renal building and General Hospital are a blight on our waterfront area, and the lack of action from the owner is well documented and visibly demonstrable to anyone who walks or drives past the area," the mayor wrote in an email to SooToday. "I am beyond disappointed with the lack of development at that location despite public pronouncements to the contrary. I am very confident that our community will be better off with new ownership.

"I continue to meet with city staff about this issue on a regular basis, and our bylaw enforcement team will keep doing whatever it can to ensure compliance with the property standards bylaw," he continued.

As SooToday first reported in May, Leisure Meadows has taken the city to court, arguing it is “exercising authority it does not have” by demanding the property have 24/7 security and $2-million worth of liability insurance. The next court date will not take place until at least next year.

During a recent interview in our SooToday studio, Shoemaker was asked about the old hospital. He said city hall is using “every tool available to us” to make things difficult for owners who do not comply with property standards bylaws.

“We want to make life expensive for people who are going to keep vacant properties, and that is Exhibit A of vacant properties in town,” Shoemaker said, referring to the former hospital sites. “We don't own it, we don't have a court order to be able to demolish it, the property owner is complying with his current order to board the place up — but there are ongoing violations there that our municipality is not tolerating.”

Should the city try to figure out a way to tear down the unsightly buildings, with the hope of one day recouping that money through a future development?

“If we get our hands on the building, I think it's a discussion we'd be willing to have,” Shoemaker said. “Of course, everything depends on what the price is, right? It’s something that we would need a cooperative vendor for, so we would need the current property owner to cooperate with us. We have not received that type of cooperation we would like on that particular building.”

You can watch the full video of the mayor’s interview HERE. Our latest story about the Plummer being put up for sale is HERE.