Compiled by Mark Schadenberg
You could be the owner of
a school.
The two area school boards currently have 10 closed schools
(retired / deemed obsolete) on the market, and if you add in the former Ecole
Marguerite Bourgeoys on Huron Street in Woodstock (not yet listed for sale),
that would be 11.
Also, plans have never been announced for the boarded-up
Tollgate French immersion school at the north end of Woodstock and attached to
that silly round-a-bout (Hwy 59 and Cty Rd 17). I would hope the public school folks would build a
brand new elementary school at that site to serve Sally Creek, AlderGrange and
Havelock Corners subdivisions kids as there currently sit on a bus to Hickson.
The only actual listing for Woodstock is St. Rita’s
School at 908 Dundas Street and its proposed owners were at City Council last
night (Jan 16) obtaining a zoning change from learning institutional (special
community facility) to a more highway commercial designation.
The hopeful owner (Listed as Dennis Simpson in The
Sentinel-Review), which I understand previously operated a store in Kitchener
and now desires to change his focus to this Woodstock location, hopes to
convert the school into a furniture store. Sounds like a terrific proposition with
Leon’s directly across the street. See the link below, but Simpson would plan
on joining a large buying group – similar, but different, than the set up seen
at Stubbe’s Furniture in Tillsonburg.
At a city planning department / committee meeting earlier
this month, this is what the agenda said:
ZN 8-13-14 –
application for Zone Change – London District Catholic School Board
The subject lands are described as Part Lots 2 & 6, Plan 495, in the City of Woodstock. The lands are located at the northwest corner of Clarke Street and James Street and are municipally known as 908 Dundas Street.
The applicant proposes to rezone the subject property from ‘Special Community Facility Zone (CF-4)’ to ‘Highway Commercial Zone (C4)’ to allow the reuse of the existing former elementary school (St. Rita’s Catholic Elementary School) as a furniture store in addition to allowing a range of other uses permitted in the ‘C4’ Zone. The proposal includes the conversion of the existing 1,820 m2 (19,589 ft2) school into commercial space along with 23 parking spaces and additional room for a future phase.
The subject lands are described as Part Lots 2 & 6, Plan 495, in the City of Woodstock. The lands are located at the northwest corner of Clarke Street and James Street and are municipally known as 908 Dundas Street.
The applicant proposes to rezone the subject property from ‘Special Community Facility Zone (CF-4)’ to ‘Highway Commercial Zone (C4)’ to allow the reuse of the existing former elementary school (St. Rita’s Catholic Elementary School) as a furniture store in addition to allowing a range of other uses permitted in the ‘C4’ Zone. The proposal includes the conversion of the existing 1,820 m2 (19,589 ft2) school into commercial space along with 23 parking spaces and additional room for a future phase.
The St. Rita’s
property was listed for only $587,000, which I would declare to be quite a
bargain based on the size of the building (19,500 sq ft), its prestige location, and its accompanying
acreage (2.99 acres; 516 ft frontage on Clarke Street South). The school’s
layout includes eight classrooms, which could all be neatly set up for furniture
showrooms I suppose. The building also featured a library, two large bathrooms,
gymnasium (plus two change rooms with more bathrooms) and office space. (http://www.ldcsb.on.ca/Community/PropertiesForSale/Documents/St%20Rita%20Building%20Floor%20Plan.pdf)
St. Rita’s closed
in June of 2012, so the LDCSB must be commended for finding a new owner quickly
because everyone has witnessed what can occur to a structure left to rot when
vacant and it doesn’t matter if it’s in the core (Capitol Theatre) or edge of
the city (OPP station).
I certainly no
nothing about the timetable for this new store to open, but the zone change was
approved last night at city council.
LINK
City Council
preview story
Heart FM
follow-up story
http://www.1047.ca/news/local-news/approved/
FULL
LISTINGS OF SCHOOLS ON MARKET
www.tvdsb.on.ca
www.ldcsb.on.ca
BY
THE NUMBERS
12: elementary schools sold since 2011
14: Still for sale
5: Offers pending on school buildings
3: Coming up for sale
Princeton
Central public school, Princeton, $242K
Victory Memorial public school, Ingersoll
Princess Elizabeth public school, Ingersoll
Norwich Public School.
Victory Memorial public school, Ingersoll
Princess Elizabeth public school, Ingersoll
Norwich Public School.
Caradoc
South public school, Melbourne, $161K
Huron
Heights French immersion public school, London
Colborne
Street public school,
Strathroy
Metcalfe
public school, Strathroy, $287K
Central
Education Centre, Central Elgin, $328K
Elmdale
public school, St. Thomas, $385K
Our Lady of
Lourdes Catholic school, Middlesex Centre, $330K
St.
Gabriel’s Catholic school, St. Thomas, $385K
Sir Winston Churchill public school, London
Scott Street public school, St Thomas
Sir Winston Churchill public school, London
Scott Street public school, St Thomas
Mark Schadenberg
Sales
Representative
Royal LePage Triland Realty
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell
or text; 539-4319, home
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
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