McKellar sale in the works
Tb News Source | Web Posted: 2/14/2007 5:48:12 PM
A former city hospital could soon take on a new life.
Regional Health Science Centre officials confirm two separate buyers have been found who want to acquire the former McKellar hospital property. They have plans for a major redevelopment that will see the creation of a new retirement facility, and the opening up of new commercial and retail space.
The McKellar hospital has been on the chopping blocks since 2002 and it finally appears to have attracted buyers. The local firm of Habib and Associates will work with S&R Retirement Homes to convert the main south wing of the hospital into a 122-bed retirement residence. And Winnipeg's Laureate Developments will tear down the north side for commercial use.
Regional Hospital vice president Scott Potts says the deal has taken so much time partly because of the facilities currently on the land.
''We've been marketing the property for about four years now, five even. It's been difficult because of the existing facilities and buildings that are on the site.''
The deal can't go through until the conditions of sale are met though, with financing and re-zoning being the main roadblocks at this point. Potts believes that these conditions should be met and the sale will be able to go through as planned.
''The developers have put these offers forward with the intent that they can meet these conditions so we would trust that they should be able to be waived and the deal should be completed.''
Potts says that they're looking for a closing date of mid-May and that once the sale has been finalized, the financial burden of the hospital will be off the Regional Health Sciences Center entirely.
