Historic Ontario jail listed for sale at just $1

CTV Windsor: Jail for sale There are plenty of ideas on what to do with the old Windsor jail. Chris Campbell explains.

The province of Ontario says they will accept the “best offer” after putting an historic jail up for sale at just $1.

Listed for a loonie through CBRE, the 33,000-square-foot lockup likely won’t sell for so little. Offers are being accepted until Nov. 23 when Infrastructure Ontario says they will review the bids.

“We are going to accept the best offer on behalf of the taxpayers of the province of Ontario,” spokesperson Ian McConachie told CTV Windsor. “We’re hoping someone comes up with an innovative solution and they can see a future for this building.”

For local residents and historians, the old prison has a lot of potential. Originally constructed in 1796 and rebuilt in 1925 after a fire, the jail has a rich past in Windsor’s “Old Sandwich Town.” It’s considered a historically significant region for the settlement of Ontario. If you ask local historian Terry Kennedy, there’s only one option: “I believe it should be the museum for the neighbourhood.”

Kennedy noted the community had been promised one in the past.

“The history of the building is amazing,” said publisher Chris Edwards, who co-authored books on the border cities Detroit and Windsor. He said Alexander Mackenzie, the country’s second Prime Minister, was involved with the construction of the building.

There have also been talks of the space being converted into a homeless shelter, while others say it should just be knocked down for something entirely new.

For Edwards, investors need only look to Canada’s newest industry for inspiration: “I personally think it would make a great ‘bud and breakfast’ with the emerging marijuana business,” he said.

With a report from CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell