The Shannondale (née Electrohome, 152 Shanley St) | 8 fl | U/C

[danbrotherston]

Would the city be able to avoid cleaning up the site if it turned it into a public park?

If the site required environmental remediation, I doubt they could turn it into a park.

As zanate points out, there is a perhaps similar site near the UW Pharmacy building, at that site, it was explained to us that the contamination means it isn't safe for human occupation...the city hoped there might be some leeway in terms of building a trail and arguing that there would be nobody would stay there, but a park would be right out, because it's intended to stay in.

[Momo26]

'Contaminated' in what way(s) exactly? They are building up condos up and around there (referring to behind Pharmacy building). People live and work close - same w/ the Electrohome factory, being that it is in a residential area. Is this too contaminated?

[Spokes]

I heard some interesting things recently about a contaminated site behind the UW School of Pharmacy which is apparently owned by a company called PolyOne. Apparently, the owner would be entirely happy to have the property assumed by the city, but then the city would have a property that can't be used without remediation, and the city would lose the tax income from it.

Maybe the happiest outcome would be to use that for a parking structure for the transit hub. The city would need to expropriate a bit of land from the neighbouring property to make a driveway from Joseph St, but that should be doable.

The site would still have to be cleaned up for a parking garage though.  At the city's expense.

[tomh009]

Maybe the happiest outcome would be to use that for a parking structure for the transit hub. The city would need to expropriate a bit of land from the neighbouring property to make a driveway from Joseph St, but that should be doable.

The site would still have to be cleaned up for a parking garage though.  At the city's expense.

Yes. But the property is not very usable for anything else. And it would remove the need to use space on the transit hub property for parking.

[Spokes]

True, there's not a lot of potential uses for that property, you're right.

[Owen]

'Contaminated' in what way(s) exactly? They are building up condos up and around there (referring to behind Pharmacy building). People live and work close - same w/ the Electrohome factory, being that it is in a residential area. Is this too contaminated?

Here's a link to the environmental assessment:

https://sites.google.com/site/mhbpna/Hom...t-building

...apparently, there's a "toxic plume" underground as a result of chemicals being disposed of via dumping in an open pit in the floor (Volatile Organic Compounds (primarily TCE), petroleum petroleum hydrocarbons hydrocarbons (e.g. toluene, toluene, ethylbenzene ethylbenzene), Metals (selenium, sodium))

My bet is that nothing happens here until some level of government steps up and helps with remediation -- I live around the corner from the Mansion St lofts - at 6 stories they are a great fit with the neighbourhood - something similar here would be perfect!

[Spokes]

I often forget about the Mansion St Lofts, but they're a great comparison and would be a great goal for this site

[Chris]

The city has cut the price from $1.1 million to under $450,000. That is still more than double the highest bid from the last sale attempt.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/914...rced-sale/

[Spokes]

Wasn't this news a few months ago?

[MidTowner]

Yes. The Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association scooped the Record by about two months. The price is double what the highest bid last time around was, but that bid was a joke- the property at the time could not have been sold for less than the tax bill, and anyone who was conducting due diligence would have known that, and thus withheld his bid. There could have been plenty of interest in the property at any range less than a million dollars; it's impossible to know.

There is also (a bit) more clarity on what the municipal government expects and doesn't expect from the building- it has signaled that it is fine if portions are torn down, and that zoning would be relaxed to allow for (for instance) a six-storey building with retail on the ground floor.

We'll see if that makes the numbers work for someone. It might! And that would be the perfect kind of development to see here.

[Chris]

I did read Ted's article in November but now we have a price and timing. Hopefully something positive happens this time but now that bricks are falling off of the building I don't think there is any chance of saving the structure. It was pretty slim that they could have saved the building in 2017 but it looks even less likely now.

[Spokes]

Ohhh right, that first artic said it was going to happen in January. Now here it is. Gotcha

[Viewfromthe42]

If I had enough compatriots, I would consider just taking the designs from the charette to an architect, alongside howevermany required likeminded individuals, and made this a developer-free development, lead by the people who would live there.

[Spokes]

The issue isn't the cost of the property and the development, it's the likely unknown cost of the remediation.

[Ace]

The property is currently listed on Kitchener's tax sale page with supporting documents.

https://www.kitchener.ca/en/city-services/taxsale.aspx