MICHAEL’S BAY – The final parcels of land comprising the government’s land seizures in the Township of Tehkummah are listed on the open market, marking the closure of a long chapter in the history of the ghost town of Michael’s Bay.
“This is the last of it,” said Chris Bousquet, broker of record at Bousquet Realty brokerage, which holds the listing for this property. “There are three parcels left being sold together.”
The Canadian government, acting on behalf of the Belgian government, seized hundreds of acres at Michael’s Bay in the Township of Tehkummah, including the former plot of the ghost town, in the mid-2000s.
Belgian authorities were investigating its then-owners for selling the illegal bovine growth hormone and purchasing property near Michael’s Bay with the proceeds of that crime.
Belgium asked Canada to seize the land on its behalf as it conducted an investigation.
Canada, through Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)’s Seized Property Management Directorate, has begun to sell off the properties over the past year, beginning with last summer’s sale of the former Royal Michael’s Bay Resort and its 116 acres, a seasonal log home in Carter Bay on 105 acres plus two one-acre waterfront lots in Carter Bay.
Last month, PSPC reached a deal with Michael’s Bay Historical Society to purchase the former townsite of what was once Manitoulin’s biggest settler village in the late 1800s. That property was roughly 49 acres.
This remaining block comprises of roughly 485 acres, according to the real estate listing.
Adding those properties to the current block brings Canada’s total seizure to approximately 757 acres.
This last block of Michael’s Bay is forested and it stretches on both sides of the Manitou River, meaning the easternmost parts of the property are accessible only by water. A boat launch exists at a small Tehkummah-owned park at the mouth of the Manitou River.
The list price for the property, which is entirely vacant land, is $665,000. The holdings, all combined, were put on the market for prices that added up to more than $2 million.
Further details about this final property are available through realtors, with MLS number 2094834.
