City OK’d to purchase more derelict downtown properties

During Tuesday’s city council meeting, the city’s elected officials unanimously approved the purchase of 352-362 Elgin St. at a cost of $1 million

The building on Elgin Street owned by Yinan Xia as pictured last year. The building was boarded for broken windows and there was a Greater Sudbury Fire Services order in place for fire watch and fire safety equipment. Jenny Lamothe / Sudbury.com

Greater Sudbury city council greenlit the city’s purchase of 352-362 Elgin St. at a cost of $1 million to be funded via city reserves.

The decision came during a closed session of city council on Tuesday and unanimously ratified during the meeting’s public portion.

“That building, as we know, is completely decrepit,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre explained after the meeting. “It is unsafe even for our staff to get into, and EMS to get into, and it’s at a point of no return. It’s boarded up and the owner wanted to sell it.”

The multi-unit residential building, he added, is “a liability on so many levels, we needed to act on it ... quickly.”

The wires and plumbing have already been torn out of the building, Lefebvre added, the roof is leaking and mould throughout the building has caused a health issue.

The property will be demolished and added to the city’s collection of properties under their Affordable Housing Land Banking Strategy, under which the city strives to create shovel-ready properties for affordable housing to address supply falling well short of demand.

The city already has other properties in Azilda and Minnow Lake earmarked for affordable housing under the strategy.

Lefebvre clarified that the city has no immediate plans for the Elgin Street property.

The city deemed the irregularly shaped building encompassing 352-362 Elgin St. unfit for occupancy last year, less than a year after Yinan Xia reported buying it for $2.25 million.

A notice posted to the building’s doors noted that it “has no fire alarm system that is operable and no smoke detection system. The fire separations have been breached throughout the building.”

“If I had $100 million, trust me, I'll be solving this easily. But I don't. I'm at the verge of bankruptcy, myself,” Xia told Sudbury.com last year, adding that he wanted the city to buy it.

Xia cited precedent in the city’s purchase of several other downtown properties as part of their efforts to clear land for an arena/events centre project. The nearby and long-vacant Ledo Hotel building was part of this municipal land-purchase effort. Similar to 352-362 Elgin St., the Ledo Hotel had fallen into disrepair and was deemed unfit for occupancy.

The 352-362 Elgin St. building is located immediately next to the Paris Street bridge and is next door to The Samaritan Centre.