City demos derelict apartment block in downtown Sudbury

The demolition of a derelict apartment building is underway in downtown Sudbury as part of the process to make room to construct the city’s new event centre.

Demolition of a derelict apartment building owned by the City of Greater Sudbury is underway downtown on Elgin Street. The city bought the property last June for $1 million and is now clearing the site for future development.

An excavator is knocking down bricks and mortar on a former apartment block, which once offered affordable housing to many, comes down.

“Work started on the building back in January with the asbestos abatement and that was completed last week so almost at the end of March,” said Shawn Turner, the city’s director of fleet and facilities.

“Currently, they are actually demolishing the structure.”

The demolition work is being done by Salandria Limited from Richmond Hill, Ont., the successful vendor on bidding the tender.

“The cost of the project including engineering asbestos abatement engineering and any sort of utility work was approximately $650,000,” said Turner.

The city purchased the property after the derelict building had been boarded up and was in need of major repairs to make it liveable.

CTV News asked city officials about the possibility of an encampment site on the property once the land is cleared, given the close proximity to the Samaritan Centre.

“Decisions like that will be guided by the city’s encampment protocol which ultimately will review the risks like an assessment of the risks and then ultimately the management of those risks,” said Turner.

From bricks, to bathtubs, to wood and metal, the city said all of the debris will be segregated and taken to the Sudbury landfill.

The demolition and clean-up of the apartment block site is expected to be complete by Easter weekend.

“The land will be held for redevelopment pending any sort of future opportunities in the downtown core,” said Turner.

The city also confirmed it has taken possession of the Wacky Wings building this week after it was expropriated for $2.5 million with plans to demolish the building to make way for the new events centre.