Vision for Wortley Village venue
What to do with an old school?
In Woodstock we have at least four retired schools which have been rejuvenated – Princess Street as a medical office with eye doctors and surgeons hosting offices, Broadway and Chapel streets have been converted to condominiums, and Victoria school on Delatre Street is overflow office space for a neighbouring church.
In London, the historically-significant (my opinion) Normal School is for sale and needs a new venture as to retain its charm and significance. It truly is a gem in Wortley Village and should be preserved. The venue has educated teachers in becoming teachers, and has previously been an office building for the board of education.
Here’s the latest story from The London Free Press discussing a public meeting slated for Wednesday of this week.
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Citizens gets say in Normal School plans at public meeting Wednesday
Saturday, October 20, 2012: LONDON FREE PRESS
LONDON -- The former London Normal School has sat empty for eight years, but with three proposals up for community scrutiny next week, the Wortley Village building could soon have a new lease on life.
The players:
- London Innovation
- Magnus Asset Management
- YMCA of Western Ontario
The proposals
While both London Innovation, a privately funded non-profit, and Magnus Asset Management, a London-based firm that invests in companies and real estate, have kept their proposals under wraps, the YMCA has not.
The Y has grand plans for the similarly grand London landmark, but needs money from one or all three levels of government to renovate the interior. “The only way we can make this work is with infrastructure money from any level of government, whether it’s municipal, provincial or federal,” said Shaun Elliott, chief executive of the YMCA of Western Ontario.
The YMCA wants to relocate one or two child-care centres to the former teachers’ college, as well as use it as a site for a program that offers newcomers language training, and to provide space for youth programs. The Y also hopes to develop a new youth-development centre of excellence that could be run from the building, use some of the space as office space and offer meeting space for the community, Elliott said.
“Given that it is around serving the youth and community . . . its tradition as an education centre, that would be fairly similar,” he said. “It’s a wonderful space with lots of green space, and we are interested in protecting that.”
While the province spent
$5 million to renovate the heritage building’s exterior, the interior needs renovating as well.
“The real challenge is how do we get to from the state the inside of the building is in to one where you can actually do the stuff I just described?” he said, adding the building needs to be accessible.
Estimates to retrofit the building are in the “millions,” he said.
The process
When the province declared the former Normal School surplus, the city stepped in. With interest in the green space, but not the building, the city began a process Aug. 1 to seek “expressions of interest” from potential community partners. When the process closed that month, the city asked three partners to return with detailed proposals on their plans — and how they’d pay for them — to the city by Nov. 2.
Throughout the process, the community has been involved, submitting questions for those interested in the building to answer. At a public meeting Oct. 24, the community will hear about the proposals, with each being ascribed points based on community input. “We tried to . . . engage the community and to get a sense of what it was the community felt was important,” said Gregg Barrett of the city’s planning department.
The three plans will be ranked and go before the city’s finance and administration committee, where staff will recommend one to politicians.
If you go
What: Public meeting for Normal School proposals
When: Oct. 24, 7 p.m.
Where: London South Collegiate Institute
More: www.oscolondon.ca
CHRONOLOGY:
1900: Feb. 1, Western Ontario Normal School, a college for teachers, opens.
1958: London Teachers’ College becomes affiliated with Western University as a junior high school.
1963: Becomes the home to former London board of education.
1985: Now houses the London and Middlesex County Roman Catholic separate school board, it’s renamed the Monsignor Feeney.
1985: The city places a heritage designation, and the Ontario Heritage Trust applies a Heritage Conservation Easement on the site.
2004: The Catholic school board relocates, vacating the building.
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