Ambitious plan brewing for malt plant
170 housing units planned in conversion
The former United Canadian Malt building on Lansdowne and Park St. N. may soon be converted into apartments — and the vacant land along Lansdowne St. to the west may get three new commercial/residential buildings, too.
The Malt building is located at the intersection of Park and Lansdowne streets, across from Home Depot.
It’s owned by David and J.R. McGee, the brothers who run the Jack McGee car dealership on Clonsilla Ave. They’re also developers.
They also own the vacant land to the west along Lansdowne St, which runs to the Taco Bell property at Lansdowne St. and Monaghan Rd. In total, it’s almost nine acres of space.
Their planner, Kevin Duguay, said in an interview Thursday they’ve developed concept plans to put apartments into the Malt building.
Their concept also calls for and three new buildings along Lansdowne St. to the west that would include both apartments and commerce.
Although it’s still unclear what businesses would locate there, Duguay said they’re planning a total of 170 apartments in the development, to be rented at market value.
That would mean 84 apartments in the Malt building and nearly 90 in the three new buildings.
Construction won’t begin for nearly a year, Duguay said, and it’s still unclear how long it will
take before it’s complete.
In the meantime, the owners need to do a series of studies — including a traffic study — and later apply for a rezoning before city council (likely in spring 2019, Duguay said).
He also said some of the loft apartments in the Malt building will feature 18-foot ceilings.
The architect is Neil Campbell of Aside Architects, a firm in downtown Peterborough.
Built in 1929, the United Canadian Malt building is a rare example of Art Deco architecture in Peterborough. It’s been empty since malt processing ceased in the spring of 2015.
For nearly three decades prior to the closure, United Canadian Malt operated from the building.
They extracted malt from barley, wheat, oats and rice for use as a sweetener in foods such as cereal and bread.
For years they relied on the CP Rail line as a way of receiving the grain needed to produce malt. But the train line stopped running in October 2014, which meant the end of operations.
The building was erected 89 years ago by Dr. George Wander (of Wander Foods); they used to make foods such as Ovaltine (a milk flavouring made with malt extract) and Poppycock (a brand of candied popcorn).
In 1988, the building was purchased by a private owner. The McGee brothers bought it next, after operations ceased in 2015.