Wedding venue, restaurant, offices in plans for old courthouse and jail

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The new buyer of the former jail and courthouse in Owen Sound has long been interested in the property and is looking forward to breathing new life into the historic buildings.

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On Monday, Owen Sound council accepted an offer of $50,000 for the 1235 and 1259 3^rd Ave. E. properties from Nick Ainis in trust, who has plans to convert the properties into a wedding and events venue, with dining, entertainment, a museum and a shared workspace.

“We are super excited and happy to join the community,” Ainis said on Tuesday. “Sometimes Owen Sound can be an undiscovered place in Ontario and there are a lot of beautiful things happening up there.”

Ainis actually went to the city about five years ago with a vision of developing the buildings into residential units, but was turned down over concerns “the numbers didn’t add up” and there wasn’t demand for such a development, he said.

But a lot has changed since then, including his marriage to Jennyvi Infante, who is in the wedding and event business and has expressed interest in creating a venue.

Having done a number of property conversion projects and with family involvement in the banquet hall business since the 1920s, Ainis said they decided to take another shot at the property. So they went to the city with a completely different vision and were successful this time around.

Ainis said he expects it to be a very challenging venture, but one he is ready for.

“I have been through this a lot and I know the best thing to do with these conversion projects is to try not to disturb the history and that equates to a lower cost as well,” he said. “If you can use the existing spaces and find a purpose for them you are going to be better off.”

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Along with approving the sale of the property, on Monday city council directed staff to bring forward a bylaw to authorize the mayor and clerk to execute all documents necessary to finalize the sale.

The deal, which is to close no later than May 27, includes a buyback clause if the development does not move forward in a specific timeline.

According to a report from Director of Community Services Pam Coulter, the multi-step buyback clause requires a pre-consultation application be submitted with the city’s development team within six months, and a formal planning application submitted within a year. Other milestones include approvals in place within 18 months and a building permit and construction started within two years.

“There are some pretty clear guardrails for the buyback on the property if these key milestones aren’t reached,” Coun. Brock Hamley said. “I think that gives me 100 per cent confidence in moving forward with this.”

Ainis said he may already be ahead of the game, with an architect, structural engineer, kitchen consultant, cost consultant, hospitality consultant and appraisal company already hired. A building conditions survey has already been started.

“We have surrounded ourselves with a team of experts,” Ainis said.

The sale comes after in July city council approved a recommendation to list the properties for sale with Chestnut Park Realty or allow for a direct sale. The list price was $249,000.

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The listing came after the city served notice last May of an intent to offer the properties for sale through a sealed-bid RFP process, but no responses were received.

The city received four offers prior to an Oct. 4 deadline. They were reviewed and three of the proponents were invited to make presentations to council on their redevelopment visions. Council chose to move forward with the Ainis offer.

The city has tried several times to sell the properties since they became vacant and were declared surplus in 2014. The courthouse is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act and the jail property is listed on the city’s heritage register.

City officials had identified the condition of the former jail buildings – including the original 1854 jail, an 1869 addition and jail walls – as potential barriers to redevelopment.

Cultural heritage evaluation and heritage impact assessments done by the city looked at the progressive demolition of parts of the jail, ancillary buildings and 132-year-old governor’s residence, but none of that work has proceeded.

Ainis said on Tuesday that his plans involve leaving “almost everything as is” and utilizing the existing space as much as possible.

“We are working on a lot of the concepts right now and we are trying to maintain the integrity of the structures,” he said.

Their plans will see the upper floor of the courthouse converted into an events space, with the lower floor to include some offices and perhaps a school of entrepreneurship. Part of the governor’s residence is to be turned into a kitchen area and part designated to house the museum. Part of the old jail will serve as a kitchen and servery area, while another part will be turned into a restaurant.

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The plan calls for the grounds to be turned into an entertainment area, with patios and possibly a chess park and bocce court in the summer, and skating rink in the winter.

Ainis said they have been working on the concept since August, with cost consultants still finalizing budgets for the proposal.

“We are maintaining most of the property and are not looking to do a lot of demolition because obviously it is a heritage building and we have to preserve most of it,” Ainis said. “If you keep the walls and everything where they are the costs significantly come down.”

The city has tried to sell the property in the past.

In 2015, Southbridge Care Homes announced plans to turn the site into a long-term care home, and in 2016 the Tom Thomson Art Gallery expressed an interest to use the buildings as an expanded gallery.

Both proponents eventually backed out saying the buildings didn’t suit their needs.

Ainis said there are a lot of limitations with the site, but he feels they have found the right use for it.

“It works really well because it is a beautiful heritage structure,” Ainis said.

“I believe we will try to draw from the whole Georgian Bay area and that will be our primary focus. We may get some people from the GTA area as well.”