Plans to sell the former Central United Church to a developer and childcare operator can move forward now that a possible heritage designation has been taken off the table.
Sarnia City Council unanimously voted to receive and file the report, and take no further action on the designation request for 220 George St.
The matter was originally scheduled to be discussed during the December 15, 2025, council meeting but was deferred to Monday, January 19.
The Sarnia Heritage Committee asked council to consider designating the site under part four of the Ontario Heritage Act. Committee Chair Evan Abma spoke on behalf of the group, citing the building's historical value and unique characteristics, such as the main sanctuary.
Jay McGuffin of Monteith Brown Planning Consultants spoke on behalf of Heikal Group Inc., citing his client's willingness to work with a licenced heritage consultant during the planning phase.
McGuffin said the property sale was expected to close in March.
His client, Heikal Group Inc. (Mostafa Heikal), is a land developer and owner/operator of a large daycare organization in southwestern Ontario, Angels Childcare.
"They're proposing a portion of the existing building to be adaptively reused for daycare purposes and they're proposing a residential intensification on the remainder of the property. The juxtaposition of the architecture is where we're beginning to look at how we're going to achieve that. We haven't gotten to that point yet because we're rather early in the process."
McGuffin said if council were to move forward with an intent to start the process of designation, his client would likely walk away from the deal due to the added costs.
The current property owner, Anthony Mota of Xoana Corporation Inc., said they would be "pretty much finished" if the sale didn't go through.
"I'm just concerned that if this deal doesn't go through, there's no one else in the hopper. I will not be able to maintain it," said Mota. "If any reason is given to them to walk away, like continuing the proposed designation, and they walk away, unfortunately, this building will fall down. I don't have the means. That's why I'm selling it. If I did have the means, I would be continuing with our original request. This is a matter of survival."
Mota said it could cost approximately $30 million to repair and replace aspects of the sanctuary and associated offices over the gym if the designation were approved.
"There's no way anyone would ever buy this building knowing that they would have to spend that amount of money inside," Mota said.
As an example, Mota said currently, the front door could be replaced for $3,000 to $5,000. But if they have to follow heritage specifications, the same project could cost over $28,000.
"We're sitting in a position where we do need nursery schools, we do need people to have places to live and if this group is looking at keeping it moderately close to what it is, that's a win for our team," said City/County Councillor Chrissy McRoberts, who brought forward the successful motion to receive and file the report.
Councillor Adam Kilner did not vote on the matter and Councillor Anne Marie Gillis was not present during Monday's meeting in order to attend a funeral.
