Fire at derelict hospital frustrates Sudbury mayor
Mayor says building owner agrees to move forward with demolition
Greater Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre says he's frustrated following a fire Wednesday night at a derelict former hospital sitting on some of the most prime real estate in the city.
"We're all frustrated," Lefebvre said at a Thursday news conference surrounded by several city councillors.
"The fact that this building has been derelict for a while. Certainly the owner has been meeting his obligations under the laws of Ontario, but I think as a city we've certainly been working with the owner to bring things forward."
Developer Panoramic Properties has owned the former General Hospital on Paris Street since 2010, but after a few years of work clearing out in the interior and tearing down some of the structure, the 75-year-old building has sat vacant in a state of disrepair.
Originally, Panoramic planned to renovate the old hospital, sometimes called St. Joseph's, but in 2023, the company announced plans to tear it down and replace it with a 20-storey condominium tower, 16-storey urban loft and 12-storey retirement residence.
The three buildings would provide 222 condo units, 199 rental apartments and 109 retirement guest suites.
"Our desire is to work in parallel with the City of Greater Sudbury to realize the true untapped potential of this site, its significance to the city, and northern Ontario more broadly," Panoramic president Angelo Butera said in a news release at the time.
Last October, the city said it would grant Panoramic $1.7 million to help redevelop another Sudbury property it owns – the downtown Scotia Tower – if it moved ahead with the former hospital demotion.
Lefebvre said on Thursday that that offer is still on the table.
The mayor said he spoke with representatives from Panoramic Thursday morning and they agreed immediate action needs to be taken to demolish the building.
"So we're looking forward to receiving their application for the demolition permit imminently as they search for a contractor to hire to move that file forward," he said.
Lefebvre added that the fire at the building shows it continues to pose a risk to public safety.
"Even though it's gated, there is fencing, but people still trespass," he said.
"And that's why, you know, the safety concerns of everybody around, neighbours as well as the individuals that may want to trespass on that property, is becoming to us, to a level that is really unacceptable."