Barrie’s general committee approved a draft agreement which would have the city swap millions of dollars worth of land with a Waterloo-based company, HIP Developments.
The draft agreement was supported unanimously in a 11-0 vote during the general committee meeting Monday evening.
This deal would have the city sell 1.465 hectares of land at Red Storey field, and 0.215 hectares of land along Bradford Street, to HIP Developments, in exchange for 1.78 hectares of land including Fisher Auditorium.
If the deal goes through, HIP Developments will look to develop the land along 34, 36, 38 and 40 Bradford St. into residential buildings. In the draft, the city has also agreed to expropriate 0.1 hectares of land at 44 Bradford St., at the expense of HIP Developments, to be included in the deal.
The city has plans to reconstruct Fisher Auditorium into a 650-seat theatre and a 400-seat event centre. The city has anticipated the cost for reconstruction to be approximately $25.6 million.
The city is also looking to develop the land near High Street and Dunlop Street into a new downtown YMCA. According to the staff report, city staff have sought input from the YMCA regarding the vision for the potential facility downtown, and will discuss a potential lease or purchase options with them once the transaction with HIP Developments has been finalized.
According to the report, the city considers this acquisition a community benefit. They say the benefit to the community is the opportunity to retain Fisher Auditorium as an “important building and cultural asset.”
In addition, the city says the community will benefit from the ability to own and develop property along Dunlop Street at High Street, as it is an “important gateway to downtown.” The city report states that without control of this property, the community hub and gateway vision for this area would be “challenging to achieve.”
The final decision will be made at next week’s city council meeting, on May 14.
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