By Jonathan Sher The Canadian Coast Guard in Sarnia is moving inland, bringing hope to a dilapidated shopping district that will host the new facility, but concerns to a downtown that's lost a major tenant. The move will empty several floors of a 14-storey building at 201 Front St, which the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has occupied since 1993. It's the latest blow to a downtown merchants say has struggled. "This will be a gigantic white elephant of an empty building," said John Mallon, who owns Ups An' Downs Pub across teh street and once chaired a now - defunct downtown business association. But while there's concern downtown, there's joy in the Northgate shopping area alomg Exmouth Street, a site that for decades was anchored by a Sears store whose exodus hurt neighbouring stores. |
"I'm glad to see anything happen at that Sears site," said Jerry Morrow, owner of Things galore. After Sears left, its building was razed, leaving ssand-covered empty space, he said. "In the high wind it's absolutely delightful - it reminds me of Saudi Arabia," MOrrow said. The developer who bought the land from Sears and secured a federal government contract worth more than $6 million, London based Shmuel Farhi, has ambitous plans that go well beyond a government contract to build 35,000 square feet of office space for the coast guard. Farhi says he wants to lure other office users and retail as well , building a facility with as much as 200,000 square feet. "This is huge for Sarnia," said Farhi, who has built many projects across Ontario and believes a fully realized project in Sarnia might be worth $35 million.
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"We're working on it as we speak," Farhi said last week . "We're soon to announce a major retailer." Farhi plans to have a shovel in the ground by early fall and finish the coast guard facility by the end of next year. Farhi's realtor, Rick Gleed of J.J. barnicke, said Sarnia could use a developer like Farhi "to come down and put some life in the market." The reaction to the move at Sarnia city hall was less certain. |
While Mayor Mike Bradley is happy to see the coast guard stay in Sarnia, he's worried about downtown. The loss of 131 jobs with the people who worked at the coast guard building on Front Street will hurt and the pain could worsen if "new" tenants in Northgate move there from the city's core. "The reaction here is very mixed," Bradley said. The manager of the downtown building that lost the contract, John Gilvasy, whose family owns the building, said he was disappointed but determined to find other uses for the building that would be 55 per cent vacant without the coast guard. One option would be to convert some of the floors to a mixed use that would include residential, bringing badly needed residents downtown. "We could rebrand the building," he said. |
