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Breakthrough on lease to unlock stalled Bayside redevelopment plan

Cathy Dobson Better late than never. A long-term agreement for Lambton County’s Shared Services centre to operate out of a renovated Bayside Centre should be ready for signing next month, officials say.
YEBayside
An artist concept of the soon-to-be upgraded Shared Services Centre in downtown Sarnia. Submitted Image

Cathy Dobson

Better late than never.

A long-term agreement for Lambton County’s Shared Services centre to operate out of a renovated Bayside Centre should be ready for signing next month, officials say.

Lambton County councillors will review the 20-year lease for approval in February, says Stephane Thiffeault, the county’s general manager of corporate services.

Though it took more than 18 months, county negotiators and building landlord Seasons Retirement Communities reached a “meeting of the minds,” Thiffeault said.

“Commercial discussions of this complexity typically take time and we had a lot of outstanding issues to discuss,” he said.

“We’ve now agreed on the most effective use of the property with the least amount of disruption.”

Though details of the pending agreement are not public, Thiffeault said the county’s 200 social service and public health employees who work at the centre will remain in the two-storey building they currently occupy fronting Christina Street.

There was discussion about building a new Shared Services building on the south end of the property but that idea was dropped, he said.

The new plan calls for significant renovations to the Shared Service facility. Much of the work will be exterior though inside renovations include a new lobby and entranceway, said Thiffeault.

All staff will remain at that location and move around temporarily during the renovations anticipated this spring, he said.

Thiffeault declined to say how much the landlord will spend but called it “an injection of significant capital.

“We’ll effectively see a new look, a new exterior and something the county and the community will be proud of,” he said.

Service Ontario, ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) and a Provincial Offences Court sublet space from the county in the Shared Services building.

The pending long-term lease will end uncertainty for those who work there, and it will open the door for the sale of the city-owned land under Bayside.

Sarnia has agreed to sell the land to Seasons for $1 million, on condition of a new lease with the county.

Seasons purchased the Bayside building in the heart of downtown in 2017 and announced a $40-million project to build a 12-storey assisted living retirement residence and make many other changes in the downtown core.

The company initially said construction would begin in 2018, but the Shared Services lease agreement took much longer than anticipated.

Seasons owns multiple retirement residences in Ontario and Alberta, including facilities in Amherstburg, Belle River and Strathroy.

Company officials have said they plan to build a 140 to 160 suite residence on the site and are “in for the long haul.”


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