Detroit has Gilbert and we have the Downtown Mission

Fear of seeing the main public library branch surrounded by street people, including many with serious mental health and addiction issues, played a key role in the structure’s recent speedy sale to the Downtown Mission for $3.6 million.

The collective concern, underlined by the tragic downtown shooting this week, was that a rapidly expanding mission might buy up adjacent properties, creating a social environment that would deter library patrons and hugely devalue the 45-year-old structure.

The city and library board have made no secret of their desire to off-load that great concrete whale — it’s more than double the space required in the digital era — to eventually move into a smaller but architecturally significant and technologically advanced structure near the riverfront.

The Downtown Mission rivals Hospice of Windsor and Essex County Hospice as Windsor’s most cherished charity. It has sacred cow status in this city — and rightfully so, given all the fine work it does to assist those who fall through the cracks. Windsor, with its workingclass sympathy for the down-and-out honed in the Great Depression and multiple cruel recessions, never begrudges anyone a meal or a bed. But it would be naive, bordering on delusional, for anyone to suggest there aren’t major social consequences of having large numbers of needle-using addicts, psychologically unstable people and plain old-fashioned panhandlers (soon to be joined by platoons of weed zombies) wandering around our already forlorn downtown.

Mayor Drew Dilkens said the city and library board were aware the mission was in the process of buying the vacant former Penalty Box restaurant, more recently Fireman’s Bar and Grill, on Dufferin Place near the rear of the library building.

More worrying, the city had learned the mission was considering buying the vacant ninestorey office building at 880 Ouellette Ave., directly south of the library and next to the city’s troubled Ouellette Manor. Downtown Mission did buy the restaurant property and had looked at purchasing 880 Ouellette, executive director Ron Dunn confirmed this week.

“We faced the prospect of having the mission surround the library. And our big issue was that if we don’t agree to the sale, there could be social problems,” said Dilkens.

The building at 880 Ouellette is still for sale. I contacted the advertised number and was politely told by an individual who declined to give his name that the building, with 45,000 square feet of usable space, has been on the market for some time for an asking price of $2 million. He wouldn’t say whether there had been offers or discussions with potential buyers.

The individual wouldn’t comment when asked how having the Mission as a next-door neighbour might affect his building ’s value. You can draw your own grim conclusion.

The bottom line is that the library is already being used by the homeless, and not necessarily for reading books. That foot traffic, with its inevitable problems, would surely mushroom with the mission, which already has a food bank and clothing centre on the other side of Ouellette, right on its doorstep.

I told Dilkens the sale seemed rushed and caught a lot of taxpayers by surprise. He said the building hadn’t been advertised for sale so the purchase offer came out of the blue and, at $3.6 million, was close to the appraised value. He described it as a “standard real estate transaction” unanimously supported by council and the library board of directors. In other words, they got the best price possible, knowing the costly consequences of rejection.

I get that. And no doubt the mission will do great work in its massive new facility that it plans to share with other helping agencies. But it depresses me to know that a homeless shelter will become one of our main street’s most visible anchors. That’s the best we can do on our most desirable avenue?

I fear this transaction will be the kiss of death for a stretch of Ouellette, chasing away potential developers while attracting more transients to Windsor.

Detroit, where the economic resurgence becomes more breathtaking with every visit, has Dan Gilbert and Quicken Loans as its driving force. We have the Downtown Mission on a roll. Enough said.