Market Plaza owner doesn’t want to sell
No price tag for site as new arena site because it’s not for sale, owner tells The Examiner
The owner of Market Plaza says he’s not interested in selling his property, even though city council has been eyeing it as a potential site for a new major sport and entertainment centre.
Barry Fienberg, of North York, is the president of Key Anlouis Investments Ltd., the firm that owns the plaza. The plaza at George and Rink streets was built in 1958, he said, and his firm bought it the following year.
“We’re not a motivated seller, obviously,” he said in an interview Friday. “We are the owners and intend to stay on as owners.”
City council plans to build a new sport and entertainment centre to replace the aging Peterborough Memorial Centre. The facility is expected to cost $85 million to build. Council plans to pick a location for the building
this fall. In the meantime, the city’s Toronto consultant, Sierra Planning and Management, is doing a detailed study of four sites: Morrow Park, the current Canadian Canoe Museum property on Monaghan Rd. (which is soon to be vacated), James Stevenson Park and Market Plaza
(in combination with the adjacent city public works site on Townsend St.).
At a meeting on Jan. 28, council ruled out No Frills on George St. as a location even though it has been shortlisted by Sierra; council didn’t want to sacrifice the downtown grocery store. Feinberg didn’t say how much money it would take for him to consider selling Market Plaza; he said he hasn’t given it any thought, since the property isn’t for sale.
Although former mayor Daryl Bennett told council last year the plaza would cost $50 million, the city’s tax rolls say the plaza’s 2019 assessment was $10.5 million. Market Plaza has several stores and services in it: Lakeview
Bowl, for example, Dollarama and National Sports. When asked if the leases would complicate a sale, Feinburg said it might — if the plaza were on the market. “But we’re not selling,” he said.
On Friday, Coun. Gary Baldwin said in an interview he thinks Morrow Park is a far better site that Market Plaza for several reasons. The city owns the land at Morrow Park, for starters — and to buy Market Plaza is to buy out the business leases, he said, so it could be very costly.
“In my way of thinking, Morrow Park is the place to put it (a new facility),” Baldwin said. Market Plaza is going to be studied by Sierra because council asked the firm to consider it last year. Then-councillor Diane Therrien — now the mayor — proposed it. Therrien said Friday she was on the Downtown BIA board when she suggested Market Plaza; the DBIA was interested in that site because it’s downtown.
But she says she understands that it would close all the plaza businesses — some perhaps never to reopen elsewhere. She said she expects Sierra to weigh all these considerations.
“With a project this big, you want to expend all your options.”
We are the owners and intend to stay on as owners. BARRY FIENBERG President, Key Anlouis Investments