Champlain Township has sold the former day care property at 79 Derby Avenue to the not-for-profit Vankleek Manor Corporation for $100,000, but the township has reserved the right to sell the building itself, which served as the former day care facility.
In recent years, the municipal day care facility has relocated to leased space at École St-Grégoire at the corner of Home Avenue and Higginson Street in Vankleek Hill.
A 2018 appraisal of the building by Enns, MacEachern, Pace, Maloney & Associates Inc. reported a value of $128,000 for the 23,000-quare-foot facility, built in 1952. But the company said at the time that this was not necessarily the fair market value.
The land will be added to existing land owned by the not-for-profit corporation to create space for a 30-unit seniors development, to be located adjacent to the site of the former municipal day care centre. The three-storey structure would contain twenty 600-square-foot one-bedroom units, and 10 two-bedroom units of 800 square feet each. Four units will be fully accessible. Common areas will be barrier-free, all doorways would be wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and other assistive devices, and the elevator would be large enough to accommodate stretchers.
In keeping with the mission of the project, 13 of the units would be given “affordable” designation, meaning their rental cost would be subsidized, while the remaining 17 would be rented at market value.
