MANITOWANING—The new owner of 115 Arthur Street in Manitowaning, which houses both the Bank of Montreal and the Canada Post Corporation office, says he envisions keeping both as tenants in the building once he officially takes over ownership of the building from the township.
“Our vision is to keep both tenants in the building,” stated Douglas H. Hancock, a resident of Mississauga who has a cottage in the municipality. “We would like to see both the bank and the post office stay as tenants. I was there a half day recently and noticed the post office (and bank) creates lots of activity.” He said with urban planning there could be spinoff from having so many visitors to the community. “There should be some type of organic activity that spills over from the current human activity at the building that would benefit the community.”
Mr. Hancock made his comments a couple of days after Assiginack council had made the final decision to sell the building. As had been reported previously, council had decided previously that it would put the building up for sale, and having done so, received a total of four bids for its purchase. At its meeting last week, council accepted the bid from Mr. Hancock for $125,000, albeit the final decision came with concerns raised by at least one council member regarding the sale of the building.
“I reject all the bids,” stated Councillor Rob Maguire, indicating that the services provided by both tenants needs to remain in the community. “I am not in support of selling the building at all.”
“I think we have to look at the fact that we can’t afford to maintain the building,” said Councillor Jennifer Hooper. “The building has for too long gone without being maintained properly, and it cannot be left the way it is.”
As had been previously reported, an assessment of the building was carried out, and while the building is solid, repairs of the building were estimated at $1.7 million.
“I cannot speak to the tenants of the building, but I feel the best thing we can do, and it is time to sell the building,” said Councillor Hooper.
“I would support selling the building,” said Councillor Dwayne Elliott. “I agree with Rob that we need the services in town, but we have other buildings in town that we could accommodate both tenants in. I support selling the building.”
Councillor Janice Bowerman had declared a conflict of interest prior to the issue being raised and did not provide any comments at last week’s meeting.
Councillor Hooper had raised a concern as well that if the building is sold, the municipality (which has records and information stored in the basement of 115 Arthur Street) would need time to remove the materials from the building. Another option was raised that Assiginack could enter into an agreement with the new owner of the building to use space in the building for a period of time and pay rent.
The bid from Mr. Hancock, the largest bid received, was accepted by council.
Mr. Hancock told The Expositor after the meeting, “I’m not originally from Manitoulin. I’m a Haweater wannabe,” he quipped. “My wife and I started to visit the Island about 20 years ago.” About 15 years ago in trying to buy a cottage on the Island (which they purchased at Sunsite Estates) “we bought a commercial building, the Co-op building in Little Current. At the time it was empty but now there is a store there and three apartments.”
Mr. Hancock, who is a lawyer in Mississauga, said, “I like Mississauga, but over the years we have developed a strong attachment to the Island. It is like our home away from home.”
“When I first came to Manitowaning the Norisle was still in the community, and they even had dining on the ship,” said Mr. Hancock. “This lasted a very short time, probably a few months, and from there we have seen other restaurants and businesses close. But I feel there is going to be a renaissance in Manitowaning. It has an amazing natural setting. I can see a bit of a renaissance taking place.”
“I am going to be reaching out to the Bank of Montreal, whose lease is up in October, to see and hopefully they will, remain in the community. The post office has a long-term lease with options,” said Mr. Hancock. “We want to continue to lease space in the building for both, and hopefully they are both motivated to stay here.”
Mr. Hancock noted council’s concerns with municipal documents being stored in the basement at 115 Arthur Street, “I would definitely be open to working out a deal with the township to have their bankers’ boxes continue to be stored in the basement. We won’t be storing anything in the basement so we would be open to working out an arrangement with council.”
As for the building itself, Mr. Hancock said it is a solid building, and he is planning to do some repairs to it. “But I’m not going to spend $1.7 million. We will try to be practical and make the repairs that are most needed and make more as we go along.”
