After five years of negotiations, the city of Halifax has finally reached an agreement between developer Jono Developments for the sale of the former St. Patrick’s Alexandra school in the city’s north end, according to a release.
The building and its property have been sold to Jono Developments for just over $3.6 million — a sum the city says is based on the original sale price of $3 million, but has been adjusted to market value considering the “elapsed time period.”
“We will still have to go through a public process to approve any redevelopment plans that they’re going to bring forward for that site,” said Tiffany Chase, with the city of Halifax.
READ MORE: How to share your input on the changing face of Halifax’s North End
Generations of north end families have fond memories of the school that’s been abandoned since 2011.
“All my older siblings went to this school and all my older cousins went to this school, my mother went to this school,” said Jennifer Conrad says.
She says there’s fear in the community that new development in the area is displacing the people who live there.
“I don’t want to see anymore condos around here, I’m so sick and tired of seeing developers come in here and make unaffordable condos that basically say ‘no you’re low income, stay out’.”
The school has been at the centre of a long-standing legal dispute after city council decided to sell the property to the developer, rather than a coalition of community groups who also wanted to buy.
The community groups launched a court challenge, calling the process unfair. They eventually won that challenge and began planning of their new space.
But shortly after the community groups started expanding on their vision, the ruling was overturned in October, 2014 and the development of the property was up in the air again.
The community groups then took their appeal to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, however they still lost development rights.
President of Jono Developments, Joe Metledge, wasn’t available for an on-camera interview but did see by phone that the company is “Very happy with the agreement and they’re looking forward to the next chapter.”
“They want to work with the community and see the large property as a tremendous opportunity,” Metledge said.
READ MORE: Youth in north end Halifax standing up for their community
There’s no word yet on what Jono Development plans to do with the building and the lot it sits on.
“Right now we have the centre plan project which is looking at updating the planning policies and regulations within that particular area. So once that comes into effect, Jono will be able to put forward their development application,” Chase said.
A staff report will be drafted to look at options for the land. The city says council is considering taking some of the money from the sale to improve community space at the North End Memorial Public Library, which sits just across the street from the St. Patrick’s Alexandra site.
The city says this agreement “concludes legal proceedings with respect to the sale of the former Saint Patrick’s Alexandra school property.”
– With files from Alexa MacLean, Global News.
Comments