Old hospital demo imminent
Demolition equipment arrived at the old St. Catharines hospital building Saturday, marking the imminent end of the huge dilapidated building that has sat empty for five years and eight months, since its doors were closed.
Developer Michael Corrado, a partner with property-owner Queenston Oakdale Ltd., said demolition should begin soon now that the equipment is on site.
“I’ll know better today or tomorrow how fast they can actually start, because they’re still getting mobilized and organizing people and so on,” he said in an interview Monday.
But before any work can begin, he said the contractor needs to ensure that no one is inside the building.
“The first thing was to get the equipment on site, stop the trespassing and vagrants that are an ongoing problem,” he said. “It’s just an ongoing nightmare, actually.”
Despite efforts to secure the property, including by boarding up windows, welding doors shut and installing security cameras, Corrado said people were still managing to find their way inside the building.
“The fence has been cut at least 100 times. It was impossible to stop them from taking wire cutters and cutting the fence,” he said. “Once the contractor is on site, we believe the trespassing will cease.”
Corrado said the demolition of the building the company purchased two years ago was delayed as plans for the property were refined.
However, his late September estimate that demolition work would begin within 60 days proved to be accurate.
“Our timelines are pretty consistent,” he said. “We would have liked to be in there sooner, but we had a lot of ideas that sort of changed along the way.”
Corrado said his company initially planned to build townhouses on the 4.4-hectare site, “but now we’re looking at apartment-style buildings.”
He said the company will retain ownership of the multiple mid- and high-rise apartment
buildings the company plans to build there, catering to a mixture of potential tenants.
There may also be some condominiums included in the development, adding the size of the lot provides opportunities for a variety of building types.
“It’s going to be a very exciting project,” Corrado said, adding it has the potential of revitalizing the area.
City representatives, he added, “really believe that it’s going to be a pivotal development for that whole section of the city.”
Wendy Dumas, who owns the nearby Subs Plus restaurant across the road from the building, was excited to see the develop finally progress after watching the building deteriorate for more than five years.
“It’s good for the city, too,” she said. “My gosh, people come from White Oaks and outlet mall and see all this mess — all the graffiti and everything. It’ll be nice to see it all cleaned up.”
Said Stephanie Bent, who has run a flower shop across the road from the hospital on Queenston Street for decades, “Everyone on this street is so pumped.”
Corrado said the company intends to use local workers whenever possible during the project — including hiring Starnino Environmental Recovery Inc. for the demolition, located “right around the corner” from the building.
“Local environmental and scrap environmental companies are all involved. We’re using local people and that’s always nice for the city,” he said.
Corrado estimated that the demolition should take about five months to complete, and construction of the new development should begin soon afterwards.
Although neighbouring business owners hoped the demolition would be completed earlier, they were pleased to see the progress being made.
“It’s still going to take a while, but it’s a start,” Bent said.
Despite challenges the development has faced, Corrado said the city has been helpful.
“The city has been very supportive and proactive to work with … particularly the mayor and economic development,” he said.
“St. Catharines is an amazing place to do business. There’s no question, they are open for business.”