A group of heritage advocates with the goal of sparing the former Avon Crest hospital building — Stratford’s first public hospital — from demolition will host a public meeting featuring four guest speakers at the Queen’s Inn in Stratford on Dec. 13.
As part of ongoing efforts to spare Stratford’s first public hospital built from the wrecking ball, a group of heritage advocates known as Save Avon Crest will host a public meeting Dec. 13 to garner public – and potentially council – support for preserving the building.
Set for 7 pm at the Queen’s Inn in Stratford, the meeting is intended to offer more information on the history and architectural significance of the building at 86 and 90 John St. S., as well as details on the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance’s plan to have it demolished in the new year to make way for as-of-yet undisclosed development opportunities.
“We want to create more awareness with the general public … and also to reach out to city councilors … to get the information back to city hall in the hope they may be able to put some pressure on the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance to change their mind or explore other options, which we don’t believe they’ve adequately done,” said Howard Shubert, a member of Save Avon Crest.
The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance, the Avon Crest hospital building’s owner, has been searching for partners interested in redeveloping the site since it put out a request for solutions to the general public in February 2020. The hospital group’s original goal was identifying qualified groups interested in developing the property in a way that both respected the heritage significance of the original 1891-built hospital while benefiting the wider Stratford community.
Since then, however, healthcare alliance CEO Andrew Williams has said the significant cost of refurbishing and restoring the building – estimated at roughly $25 million – has left the hospital group with little option but to demolish.
Earlier this year, a recommendation by Heritage Stratford, a city advisory committee, to designate the Avon Crest properties and their associated buildings under the Ontario Heritage Act to prevent the building’s demolition was voted down by the previous city council.
“The $25-million cost is something that’s been put out by the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance. Nobody just decides to restore something to its previous state. They come with a project in mind. So if it’s housing in mind, you redesign something for housing. Whatever the use is, that’s what you design it as,” Shubert said, “so this is a hypothetical cost that’s been put out. The other thing to keep in mind is whether it costs $25 million or whether it costs more or less, at the end of that you have a building that could produce income, whereas tearing it down you’ve got nothing and you still need to build something after that if you do want to realize some income.”
Speaking with the Beacon Herald on Wednesday, Williams said the healthcare alliance has plans to put the building’s demolition out for tender by the end of this year. The organization will likely apply to the city for a demolition permit at some point in the new year with the goal of removing the building in the spring, he added,
While he sympathizes with Save Avon Crest’s desire to preserve an important piece of Stratford’s history, he says the healthcare alliance’s first and foremost responsibility is to act in the interest of continuing to provide high-quality health care for its patients.
“Obviously, we’re committed to repurposing the site in a way that benefits the community,” Williams said. “We’re involved in some conversations (surrounding the properties’ future development). I’m not at liberty to discuss them publicly because I need to maintain confidentiality until there’s some firmer direction, but we’re really excited about the opportunity. I think we’ve been clear all along with all the organizations, including the Save Avon Crest group, that we very much value preserving heritage and we respect their views.
“We’ve done our due diligence and … I think we’re making a remarkably responsible decision for this community when it comes to this decision. … When we look at the options available to us, the opportunities available to us from a health-care perspective, we know we’re making the right decision not only for health care but for this community.”
That said, Williams has been clear in previous communications with Save Avon Crest that it would review any “tangibly funded plan” that brings the building to current standards, provides net additional benefits to the community from a health-care perspective, is timely and achievable , and complements other planning on the properties.
“I feel like it’s not really my job or my place to be telling people what should be done with it. … We’re not developers. We’re not really in a position to even be speaking to developers. We have no agency at all, but things happen when the right people are reached out to and putting out a (request for solutions) is not the way to come up with real solutions,” Shubert told the Beacon Herald Wednesday.
The public meeting on Dec. 13 will feature four guest speakers, each of whom will touch on an topic of concern related to the planned Avon Crest demolition, as well as ways in which it could be repurposed.
Laurentian University architecture professor Thomas Strickland will explain Avon Crest’s architectural significance in the context of Canadian and international hospital infrastructure; heritage architect and former senior heritage planner for the City of Vancouver Robert Lemon will discuss the environmental impacts of demolishing the hospital building; heritage architect, partner and CEO of London-based a+LiNK Architecture Inc. will speak about his firm’s successful heritage preservation and restoration projects across Southwestern Ontario; and Mitchell Rhodes, director of the United Way Perth-Huron’s Community Renewal Company, will discuss the urgent need for housing to address the issue of homelessness in the region.
For more information and to RSVP for the meeting, email [email protected].