No sale of Market Plaza in works
Canadian Tire pulling plug on National Sports which has location there
Market Plaza, which is about to lose its major tenant when National Sports closes, still isn’t for sale, says the property owner — never mind that the city and its consultants are eyeing it as part of a potential downtown location for a new major sport and entertainment centre.
“No, nothing’s changed — we still don’t have any plans on selling (the plaza),” said Barry Fienberg of North York in an interview Thursday. “There’s always issues with tenants moving in and moving out.”
On Thursday it was announced that all 18 National Sports stores in Southern Ontario will close soon; the parent company, Canadian Tire, said it was closing the stores to reduce overlap in its sporting goods sales (Canadian Tire also owns SportChek, for example).
Fienberg said he wasn’t fazed a bit that National Sports is closing: he’s been planning to renovate that portion of the plaza and he’ll go ahead with his plans even as the store closes.
“You do what you have to do to maintain the property — and you find new tenants,” he said.
Meanwhile, city council is considering two locations — downtown or Morrow Park — for a new major sport and entertainment centre to replace the aging Peterborough Memorial Centre.
The city’s consultants, Sierra Planning and Management of Toronto, told council late last year it would be better to go downtown because it would revitalize the city’s core.
Sierra’s preferred downtown location for the facility is a large triangular site that includes the city’s former public works yard on Townsend Street plus Market Plaza, plus another plaza where Smitty’s restaurant is and the Tim Hortons on George Street.
But that would require the city to buy many privately owned
properties — and one of the largest would be Market Plaza.
It’s been discussed by council as a possibility for more that two years, but Fienberg said no one — not city officials or consultants — have contacted him to see whether he’s interested in selling.
The plaza was built in 1958 and he bought it in 1959. Fienberg says he hasn’t put a valuation on it.
And while the consultants have told council a downtown location would revitalize the area, Fienberg says that’s “questionable” — and he doubts city council will be willing to buy up all that property downtown when Morrow Park is already city-owned.
“Morrow Park is probably more suitable,” he said.
For years council has been considering a replacement for the Memorial Centre, a new facility with 5,800 seats that would cost somewhere between $91 million and $97 million to build.