BY RICK PUSIAK
An application has been made to demolish one of Sudbury?s oldest buildings. An advertisement published last week indicates the city has received an application requesting a demolition permit for 38 Xavier St., a structure constructed in 1894 as a French Catholic separate school. L?ecole St. Louis de Gonzague was turned into an orphanage in 1929 by Father Pare and the Grey Nuns of Nicolet.
The now vacant building is owned by the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
The D?Youville landmark has been designated a heritage building and as such the owners have to apply to city council for a demolition permit.
If the politicians approve the application at Tuesday night?s planning committee meeting and full council endorses the motion Thursday night there is still a 180 day freeze before demolition can proceed.
The municipality can also intervene and re-examine the matter during that period.
After six months the owner can tear down the structure as long as a building permit is issued for a new structure on the site.
Diocesan financial administrator Pat Dubreuil said the decision to demolish boils down to dollars and cents.
The building is old and empty and the cost of repairs or renovations prohibitively high. The hard and cold truth is the bill for mechanical and electrical upgrades is more than the appraised value of the building.
Dubreuil said the diocese, which stretches from North Bay to almost the Manitoba border, has the accounting burden of five other empty buildings, including the vacant St. Clement Church on Albert Street in Sudbury. The building still has to be heated, hooked up to the hydro grid and insured.
?We fiscally cannot sustain this,? said Dubreuil. ?We want to stay alive.?
The former Paroisse Ste-Marguerite D?Youville on Highway 69 N in Valley East is also on the market, but has not been sold.
Another property up for sale is the old St. Ignatius parish in Sault Ste. Marie, which was closed in 1999.
The property is worth $718,000 but the diocese has it on for sale at $200,000 and there are no takers.
?We?re sustaining all these building right now and the capital investment required is just horrendous.?
The D?Youville structure sits on 1.4 acres of prime commercial real estate near the downtown core. The size or ?footprint? of the actual building is 4,000 square feet.
There is a possible chance for saving the historical building.
?We are willing to go into an agreement like we?ve had in the past, basically for one dollar a year, (if) someone will take over the property,? said Dubreuil.
?But they would take over all the property?s liabilities, construction problems. If someone wants to come forward and say I want to put $500,000 to $1 million into this property to keep it as a heritage site, we?ll say no problem. But we will retain ownership of it.?
In recent years the D?Youville building has been home to Centre Franco-Ontarien de Folklore, an internationally known facility and museum dedicated to the preservation of francophone culture.
Members of the francophone community will recall curator Rev. Germain Lemieux who retired in August of 2001 and returned to Quebec where he is still enjoying his golden years.
Lemieux spent decades in Sudbury cataloguing countless songs and stories for preservation and the enjoyment of future generations.
Dubreuil said the cultural centre was offered the building but its representatives said it was too costly to operate and renovate as well.
The cultural centre moved last July to the old Sacred Heart School off Lasalle Boulevard near what was the Lord of the World parish.
Offers had been made to purchase the D?Youville building, but an arrangement could not be worked out, according to cultural centre executive director Denis Brouillette.
Most of the 17,000 square foot Sacred Heart building is occupied by the cultural centre.
Dubreuil noted the diocese has gone to great lengths to restore or rebuild historical structures like Ste-Anne des Pins church on Beech Street, erected in 1894 which was destroyed by fire. It?s interesting to note the original Ste-Anne, Sudbury?s first church, was constructed in 1887, but was also destroyed in a blaze.
The adjacent rectory, one of the first brick structures in the city, was not damaged, has recently been renovated and is now the oldest building in Sudbury.
The historical Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption in North Bay also underwent a $1.3 million facelift.
The Feb. 11 meeting of planning committee dealing with the D?Youville issue is scheduled to begin at 7 pm.
Anyone wishing to express an opinion may appear at the session in council chambers or write the city clerk.
