Vocal critic of downtown addiction clinic now its new landlord

A downtown business owner who has been a vocal critic of a nearby addiction treatment clinic is now its new landlord after purchasing the building on the corner of Queen and Spring streets earlier this year.

Marnie Stone, owner of nearby Stone’s Office Supply on Queen Street, was among the downtown business owners expressing concerns about the Ontario Addiction Treatment Centre’s clientele and location to then-director of the Queenstown Business Improvement Area prior to a January 2016 meeting of its board.

At the time, board members were told she wanted a survey conducted to collect feedback on the clinic.

"I think it sends the wrong message and the wrong vibe to what we are trying to create downtown," Stone told Northern Hoot in a 2015 article on the OATC clinic.

Public land registry documents retrieved by SooToday show almost exactly six years after that board meeting, Stone’s company purchased the building and is now the new landlord for OATC.

Stoneage Holdings purchased the building for $295,000. The previous owner, 1276154 Ontario Ltd., bought the property in 2003 for $145,000 and in 2014 leased the main unit to Canadian Addiction Treatment Clinic Holdings Ltd.

Reached by email on Monday, Stone declined to comment for this story, citing an illness and said she isn't ready to reveal plans for the second floor of the building.

The lender for the 2022 transaction is listed in the documents as Sandra Hollingsworth, city councillor for Ward 1. According to the records, Hollingsworth loaned Stone's company the full amount of the purchase price—$295,000—at an interest rate of prime plus 1 per cent. The monthly payment is $4,000.

Hollingsworth has also publicly voiced concerns about methadone treatment facilities being located in the city's downtown.

Reached by email on Monday and asked what the thinking is behind lending money toward purchasing a building with a tenant she has spoken out against, Hollingsworth said, "I believe in helping the arts community which Marnie has been a great community leader and advocate for."

She added, "I am in the planning stages to support the new Residential Withdrawal Management program."

"As for the lender," said Hollingsworth. "This is private and not sure what you are referring to."

In a 2016 meeting of city council, Hollingsworth was speaking about methadone clinics when she expressed concerns about ‘meth labs’ being set up in the city’s downtown. At the time she represented Ward 2, which included part of the city's downtown.

"Councillor Hollingsworth, there are no meth labs downtown," Mayor Christian Provenzano told her at the time. Hollingsworth apologized and corrected herself.

The January 2022 sale of the building to Stoneage Holdings Inc. is news to Kate Johnston, director of clinical services for Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres, which operates the OATC clinic.

Johnston told SooToday plans for the building by the new owner have not been shared with OATC.

“I think it’s a well known fact that the downtown businesses would prefer us not to be there and I personally have spent some time having meetings and talking with local businesses about the things we can do to mitigate the things they are frustrated by,” said Johnston. “If for some reason we were no longer to be able to continue to operate in that location we would absolutely try to find new digs because we have a lot of patients there that we wouldn’t want to be without care."

The clinic operates on the first floor and basement of the former bank building at 500 Queen Street E.

“We actually have recently invested quite a bit of money in a refresh and a renovation in our clinic and pharmacy space,” said Johnston. “We probably wouldn’t have done that if we thought we were at risk of not being in that space.”

The clinic is also adding a fourth physician to treat clients from the building’s clinical space starting this week.

“The fentanyl epidemic is something most people in Ontario and Canada are familiar with and definitely the treatment landscape is, unfortunately, growing,” said Johnston. “It used to be a prescription opioid crisis, you remember the oxy epidemic, but unfortunately fentanyl has changed it and made it a more serious process.”

The clinic focuses on a model of harm reduction and physicians prescribe and dispense three main medications to treat opiate use disorder, including methadone. The clinic also screens and treats patients for hepatitis B and HIV.

Stone and Hollingsworth are founding members of the 100+ Women Who Care Sault Ste. Marie group, which to date has raised $235,489 ​for local charities and not-for-profit organizations, according to its web site.