Some of historic facade to be retained
The former United Canadian Malt building on Park Street will be demolished by spring, says one of the owners, although he also says some of the facade will be retained.
“We do plan on keeping some of the original facade, and it will be tastefully incorporated within the new structure,” David McGee wrote in an email to The Examiner on Tuesday.
“Think cornerstone only larger,” he wrote.
McGee wasn’t available for an interview on Tuesday, but shared some of his plans regarding the former Malt building via email. He and his brother, J.R. McGee, own the site, as well as nearly nine acres of vacant land to the west along Lansdowne Street. They had planned to convert the former Malt building into high-end apartments and add three more apartment buildings with commercial uses on the ground floor.
“Our plan has always been to build a significant number of apartments,” David McGee wrote on Tuesday. “However, we have been approached to build a medical centre, dentist office, hotel, pharmacy, bank, brew pub and a multitude of other uses.
“Once the site is clear and the environmental assessment is complete, we will be moving forward with a well-considered site plan,” he wrote.
On Monday evening, city council reversed an earlier plan to place a heritage designation on the former Art Deco factory that’s already under demolition.
The Malt building is located at the intersection of Park and Lansdowne streets, across from Home Depot.
It is sometimes referred to as the Ovaltine building, since the milk flavouring made from malt extract used to be manufactured there.
The McGees bought building three years ago after malt operations ceased and announced plans to reuse the old building.
But then early this year they took out a demolition permit for part of the building, which was later changed to allow the entire building to be razed.
City staff recommended a heritage designation after consulting with the Peterborough Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (PACAC), which discussed it at a meeting under new business on Nov. 7. At a committee meeting on Dec. 2, councillors gave preliminary approval to place a heritage designation on the building — but it wasn’t a done deal unless it got a final vote at a council meeting on Monday, which it didn’t.