London purchases historic Wortley Village structure from province
By
Mark Schadenberg
LONDON
– I’ve tracking the Normal School in London as it truly is unique architecture,
has been utilized as a teachers’ college, owned by the separate school board as
offices (known then as Monsignor Feeney Centre), and is most certainly a true diamond of London’s renowned Wortley Village neighbourhood.
As
someone residing in Woodstock, could you imagine if one our city’s true
historic stand-alone buildings was in need of a new owner. The best comparison
or parallel here would likely be the old jail fronting on Buller Street, which
is now the home of the Oxford County board of health.
In
London, the Normal School, which was built in the late 1890’s and is on Elmwood
Avenue in the prestigious Wortley Village, has now been officially purchased
away from the province by the City of London for a reported sum of just under
$1.7 million. London will renovate and find long-term leases, including the
YMCA (expected) for a daycare centre and additional uses.
“This is a true gem in the city, and I’m so glad we’re
preserving it,” said city councillor Denise Brown to Metro News (see the below
link), who represents the area (ward).
The
only question is renovation and retrofit (strict building codes for
fully-accessible public buildings is now enforced plus remediation of anything now
considered hazardous such as asbestos) costs, which have been estimated to be
over $8 million.
I
remember back to October of 2012 when a series of public meetings were hosted
to attract groups to come forward and purchase the building. There were three
possible buyers, but in the end only the YMCA was left standing (with a proposal and proposed use) and they could
never raise enough dollars through fundraising efforts and memberships for a
complex bill likely to total more than $9 million in the end.
The
Normal School has been vacant since 2004 and if you’ve driven past it, you
would realize quickly there is nothing normal about it – a dominating – almost
majestic – structure.
The
province apparently has spent more than its accepted purchase price in
preliminary improvements on the exterior ($5 million reportedly) in an effort to entice a buyer from
the business world, but in the end it’s the City of London which will assume
ownership. By reading through previous London Free Press (Derek Ruttan of LFP file photo below) pieces, it would
appear it was London itself who placed a heritage designation on the building
in 1985, which would somewhat confirm its long-time existence.
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas
St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553,
cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Discussion
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