A prime piece of real estate in downtown Sarnia has been sold.
Elevate Living, a residential real estate development company based in Welland, Ontario, has purchased the former Bayside Centre site from Seasons Retirement Communities.
Speaking with Sarnia News Today, CEO Drew Toth said the sale closed in early June.
"We are very early in our planning and conceptual phases," Toth said. "What we do as a standard process, is we engage with the community because we really have a vision to meet the needs of the community through housing."
Toth said they've already met with local individuals.
"We had a great meeting with the Downtown Business Collective to get feedback from that group, and currently we've been soliciting feedback through Facebook," he said.
Toth said they're seeking answers to four key questions.
"The first one is, what do you love about your neighbourhood? The second one is, what do you believe is the greatest need in your neighbourhood? The third one, do you have any questions or concerns? The fourth one, are there any other things that you would like to share with us in regards to the Sarnia community or this property," said Toth.
So far, Toth said a need for multi-residential units, whether they're apartments or condos, and a grocery store have been expressed.
"We have experience with building single homes, we've built some stacked townhouses, apartment buildings and condos, and we've done some light commercial in the past as well," said Toth.
He said they typically include affordable or attainable housing in their developments, and do not specialize in subsidized or transitional / supportive housing.
"We like to build relationships, that's important to us when we're developing in a town," Toth said. "We are from Niagara Region. We have a lot of relationships here that we've built over time and because Sarnia's a new town that we're starting business in, by all means please reach out to us at any time."
Toth said public feedback can be submitted online or by email until the end of September.
When asked, Toth said he preferred not to share the purchase price.
In a statement to Sarnia News Today, Seasons CEO Mike Lavallée said "the opportunity to reimagine and repurpose the Bayside Mall has been a tremendous journey for Seasons Retirement Communities."
"A key component of the project was to redevelop the offices for the Lambton County Shared Services, which includes spaces for the Ministry of Youth and Correctional Services and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, among many other service providers that serve the residents of the City of Sarnia," Lavallée said.
"After a comprehensive analysis, we decided that Seasons was not the right developer to complete the project's residential component. After a deliberate process, we sold our interest in the Bayside project to a housing developer that is much better suited to bring the next phase to fruition," he added.
Seasons acquired the mall in 2017, and revealed preliminary plans for a $40-million plus development to city council the following year.
In 2020, Sarnia City Council approved the $1 million purchase of the lands to Seasons and Lambton County Council finalized a 20 year lease that included an option to purchase the fully renovated building at a later date.
The renovated building marked its official re-opening in November of 2022.
The County of Lambton purchased the Lambton Shared Services Centre and the property it sits on from Seasons for $17.6 million in June of 2024.
Earlier this week, the county told Sarnia News Today it retains ownership to date.