152 Shanley Update, February 2017

In 2012 the City of Kitchener claimed it would put this property up for a tax sale. That did not happen.

Again in 2016 the City of Kitchener was on the record (and in The Record) claiming it would be up for sale. That did not happen either.

In late 2016 the city added an information page that discusses their intention to put it up for a tax sale in January. It is now February and there is no sale yet. 

We contacted the city about this issue and they replied that there has been interest and they are delaying the sale until some time in February in order to give the interested parties more time for “due diligence”. 

The city’s reply is that it has “been contacted by a few parties interested in the site and they have been doing their due diligence for which more time would be helpful. The formal advertisement is prescribed by legislation; it runs only 5 weeks and through that process the property is only advertised for sale for 4 of the weeks.  Once we commence the formal advertisement we can’t deviate from it as the process is legislated and we lose any flexibility with respect to time.  The formal advertisement will commence in the next two weeks and will run for 5 weeks.”

So we can expect to see the sale announced soon.

The city has done a good job with their information page and the Information Package that is available for everyone to view. However, the city lists all the problems and obligations of the site, including its heritage designation, without mentioning many of the positive details of this growing part of our Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park neighbourhood. 

For example, the city’s web page states “The property may be eligible for brownfield financial incentive program” (sic). Why doesn’t it say: “here are some brownfield incentives that we will work with any partner to secure”? 

Why isn’t there a description of how the City will help any purchaser through the many steps required -after- the sale for the lengthy process of soil testing, remediation, permits required etc.? And this property also involves provincial standards so where is our provincial representative during this process?

The property has been essentially abandoned for for over 30 years and there is a short opportunity to sell it. It would be nice if the city showed a little more enthusiasm with this venture. We certainly wish everyone luck and hope the additional time for “due diligence” will result in an offer.

(for past information about this property on the Blog, search for “152 Shanley” at the top left of the Blog)

Ted Parkinson