Mayor Bryan Paterson was on The Morning Show on CKWS Thursday and made a big announcement. He told anchor Shauna Cunningham that a local company has plans for the former women’s penitentiary located on Sir John A. MacDonald Boulevard.
In the Mayor’s weekly blog he said he was excited for a new vision for the site, which has remained unused for over a decade.
Paterson went on to write about the approval process, saying it is very involved due to the historical significance and existing heritage designation of the site.
“The City, in collaboration with the Heritage Kingston committee, will need to review these interior designations to provide more flexibility for redevelopment.”
ABNA Investments Ltd. has expressed interest in purchasing the property for redevelopment, but would need certain steps to be taken by the City before any changes could be made.
WATCH: Plenty of Interest in former Prison for Women
According to the Mayor’s blog, another problem is some environment contamination that the city would have to help take care of.
CKWS reached out to Hank Doornekamp, Owner of ABNA Investments, and although he did not want to talk about the plan, he did say he hopes to have the deal closed in a couple weeks.
Queen’s University has owned the property since 2008 and demolished three of the four security walls on the exterior of the building. The institution was planning on using the site to store University archives.
The Prison for Women was in operation from 1934 to 2000.