Photo Karen Graham.
After years of sitting idle, two of the three downtown properties owned by the Tinney family have been purchased by the municipality.
The first property, located at 20 King Street East and extending through to Centre Street, is .75 acres and sits across from the LCBO. The second property abuts the first on the east side facing Centre Street and consists of .18 acres. There is a third property located on Tupper Street which was home to the Box Office of the 4th Line theatre before they acquired their new location across the street that was not part of this transaction. All three properties had been listed for sale on and off for several years, during which the municipality had approached the vendor with an interest to purchase some of all of the properties that was unsuccessful.
These properties have been vacant in the Village of Millbrook for many years and given the interest to foster growth and development in our downtown, Council wanted to explore the option of purchasing the lands to do so in the future.
After discussions with several staff members and Mayor Graham, Paul Tinney sent a letter to the township offering to sell two of the properties in June. In a closed session later that month, Council directed staff to proceed with the acquisition, which officially closed in September.
Cambium Consulting & Engineering was engaged to complete an Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), Phase I and II to ensure that there were no issues or concerns with the properties before the sale was completed. The results of these assessments allowed the municipality to proceed with the acquisition on September 19th for a total cost of $2 million which includes legal, land transfer and environmental study costs. This purchase was funded through the Asset Management Reserve.
Now the future of those key Community Core properties is in the hands of the municipality. Staff will begin investigating the options which may include selling them to a third party for development, partnering with a third party or initiating development activities independently to assert more control over the future of these two parcels. In any case, the redevelopment of these properties could provide a significant boost to the vibrancy of the downtown area. KG