Sault Ste. Marie city council unanimously votes to purchase former hospital building

City council in Sault Ste. Marie pulled out its cheque book on Tuesday aftervotingunanimously to purchase three derelict properties along the city's waterfront including the former Plummer and General Hospital sites for $4.75 million.

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker told CBC News that council believes the city can realistically sell two of the properties for between $2 and $2.5 million to a developer.

The city hopes a developer would also purchase the third property the former General Hospital and cover the approximately $4 million it would cost to demolish the building.

"There are developers willing to tear it down at their expense in exchange for the land," he said.

Shoemaker says the properties occupy prime real estate along the St. Marys River.

"From a community benefit perspective, this is the gateway to our downtown," he said.

"It has been a symbol of blight and decline since it became vacant and was left, you know, with broken windows."

Shoemaker says the city purchased the properties because their owner who bought them when the hospital board sold them for $65,000 in 2013 has been "notoriously difficult to deal with."

But the city had more leverage dealing with the developer because it had the ability to enforce bylaw standards and issue fines if he refused to develop the properties.

"The reality is this developer is from out of town and has no interest in seeing these redeveloped," Shoemaker said.

"[He] probably bought it with the intention of flipping it and then was left with this kind of albatross of a derelict building sitting in his hands."

Shoemaker says there are other derelict properties in Sault Ste. Marie, including some owned by Hamilton-based investors who have filed for bankruptcy protection.

But he says the three waterfront properties were among the most high-profile, and the ones the community was demanding action on.

Shoemaker says the city is looking at the purchase as an investment rather than an expense, sayingthe land could be turned into future housing or other development.

He hopes the city can recoup some of the costs over the next 5 to 7 years.