Brockville, Ont. residents, businesses excited for plan to revamp downtown eyesore

There is finally a plan in place to transform a large vacant property in downtown Brockville that has sat empty for years.

It’s welcome news for residents and businesses, even though it could be a while yet before construction gets underway

Speaking with residents downtown on Tuesday, one word regularly comes up in conversation to describe the building at 36-46 King Street West.

"Eyesore!" said Debbie Brand, enjoying a cup of coffee outside of Tait's Bakery.

"It's certainly been an eyesore for all of us in this whole block here," added Dan Sparring, co-owner of Limestone and Ivy.

The former Woolworth's building has sat vacant since 2004, but now a new plan for the site seems to be on the way, according to the city.

"Residents have been saying that they want to see something happen to this building, and so really exciting to see that we have a developer who's come forward who's looking to buy the building and to redevelop the old site," said Rob Nolan, City of Brockville Director of Economic and Development Services.

That developer is the Caber Group out of Ottawa, and they plan to turn this site into a mix of commercial and residential units.

"The ground floor and the second floor are going to be commercial and office space, they need to retain some retail, commercial space," Nolan said. "They probably will have some parking at the back and then they are looking at four to six floors of residential above that."

In 2019, Brockville City Council made it a priority to get the ball moving on the vacant site, negotiating with the then owner to acquire the building late that year and into 2020.

The city then purchased the site in December of 2020.

"In early 2021 we started a process where council wanted to understand from the public what they felt should happen here and to go out to a public process to look for a developer," Nolan said. "That happened through the spring and summer of 2021."

In the fall of 2021, three developers had interest in the site, with two making presentations to council on what they would like to see done.

"Council asked us to start negotiating with one of those in particular, and that developer has ended up buying the building and we've got an agreement to purchase and sale, finally," Nolan said.

Activity on the site however, is not expected to start for another two years.

"We're expecting a year for them to come forward to say this is what we're going to be doing, and then they'll own the building at that point, and then they have another year where they can start to draw down the building permits, start construction," Nolan said.

Although the site will not be transformed into something new overnight, residents are excited that the future of downtown Brockville looks bright.

"Looking across as I'm having my coffee at that is not a welcoming site," said Brand. "If they are going to make it something that will benefit the town, then I think it's great news."

"You've seen pigeons come and go, there has been smells from the building and whatnot and we've just been hoping for years that something has been done to it," added Sparring.

"We are all excited that they are actually going to put the shovel in the ground and do something about this place. It's a beautiful spot. I mean this block is probably one of the prime spots downtown Brockville and they should have no problems filling this place up," he said.

Nolan says the city is confident the Caber Group will build to the aesthetics of the historic downtown.

"The developer has been quite good at making sure that they're looking at the other buildings surrounding it and they want to make sure that they are going to put a building that actually relates to the rest of the area around it," said Nolan.

"This building here was built in 1950s and it certainly doesn’t relate to the historic downtown," he added. "This developer has actually done similar projects in small communities where they have actually maintained a heritage feel to the building, even though it's new."

Nolan said the Caber Group is also aware of the need for affordable housing in the downtown core.

"There's some CMHC programs that they can access to create some affordable housing, and certainly in their discussions with the city, they have talked about being able to put affordable units in here," he said.

"One of the key parts of making a vibrant downtown is to allow for people who want to live and work in the downtown, which is going to be a benefit to seeing more growth in the future," he added.

The city has also requested the developer to reach out to the public for feedback throughout the planning process.

When city council put out a request for proposal for the property in April 2021, approximately 900 people responded to a survey in varying degrees of what they thought should be done.

"We want to make sure they've heard the public and what the public is looking for here," Nolan said. "There are a lot of views. We think the developer should spend some time just to listen to people from Brockville to see what they think should happen here."

"It's an exciting opportunity. This is a building that's right in the heart of our downtown, at the key intersection of King and Courthouse and it's been vacant for a long time," Nolan added.

"It's great to see an opportunity come forward that will see this change the building, but also the downtown as well."