Post by Rick (Admin) on Jan 17, 2013 13:37:59 GMT -5
North Bay Psychiatric Hospital Demolished
NORTH BAY - Most of the former North Bay Psychiatric Hospital has been reduced to heaps of rubble.
As of Wednesday the only structures left standing were an elevator shaft from the third pavilion of the hospital and the boiler room.
Crews were already in the process of tearing down the elevator shaft and the boiler room is expected to come down in the upcoming days.
JMX Demolition and Environmental Contractors has been at the site since November.
The company, based in Gormley, Ontario, used fencing to protect the trees near the buildings and are recycling materials in the demolition.
Workers on site said there have been several former hospital employees travelling up Highway 11 North to take pictures. A few have asked for things like a brick as a memento.
The 56-year-old building became surplus in 2011 when the former North East Mental Health Centre and North Bay and District Hospital merged onto one site to become the North Bay Regional Health Centre, located on Highway 17 West.
Jeff Giffen, a spokesman for Infrastructure Ontario, said the former psychiatric hospital property hasn't been purchased and there's been no decision on the future of the Highway 11 North site.
The ministry is hoping the demolition of the building will help make the property a little more lucrative to potential buyers.
“We've had an independent assessment done of the property and to help minimize costs and to facilitate future reuse, the building was demolished,” Giffen said.
The site was once slated to become a regional jail, including a 50-bed secure-treatment unit for male offenders and a 192-bed pod for remanded inmates and short-term sentenced inmates. The proposed facility, announced in 2000 by the Conservative government while former Nipissing MPP Mike Harris was premier, was to replace the existing North Bay Jail as well as Monteith Correctional Facility near Timmins.
The project hit a snag when it was determined it would cost an additional $15-million to extend city and water services to the site.
The psychiatric hospital building has sat empty for two years.
Before demolition crews arrived on site, Infrastructure Ontario circulated the property to determine if there were any further government requirements for re-use of the entire site. There were no takers.
“The property isn't currently for sale at this time. We have done some circulation for potential government use and we're still in that process,” Giffen said Tuesday.
The prime real estate land will be left vacant and the land where the hospital once stood will be grass.
Demolition crews are currently tearing down the former Civic Hospital on Scollard Street.
The Scollard site and the former Scollard site on McLaren Street were sold in 2011.
The properties were purchased by two developers for $5,000.
Hospital officials said at the time of the sale the alternative was spending $3 million to $4 million to demolish the two old buildings to meet environmental and safety standards before there was any hope of selling the 10 acres of land on which the buildings sit.
The developers are looking to use the sites for residential development.
www.nugget.ca/2013/01/16/psych-torn-down
NORTH BAY - Most of the former North Bay Psychiatric Hospital has been reduced to heaps of rubble.
As of Wednesday the only structures left standing were an elevator shaft from the third pavilion of the hospital and the boiler room.
Crews were already in the process of tearing down the elevator shaft and the boiler room is expected to come down in the upcoming days.
JMX Demolition and Environmental Contractors has been at the site since November.
The company, based in Gormley, Ontario, used fencing to protect the trees near the buildings and are recycling materials in the demolition.
Workers on site said there have been several former hospital employees travelling up Highway 11 North to take pictures. A few have asked for things like a brick as a memento.
The 56-year-old building became surplus in 2011 when the former North East Mental Health Centre and North Bay and District Hospital merged onto one site to become the North Bay Regional Health Centre, located on Highway 17 West.
Jeff Giffen, a spokesman for Infrastructure Ontario, said the former psychiatric hospital property hasn't been purchased and there's been no decision on the future of the Highway 11 North site.
The ministry is hoping the demolition of the building will help make the property a little more lucrative to potential buyers.
“We've had an independent assessment done of the property and to help minimize costs and to facilitate future reuse, the building was demolished,” Giffen said.
The site was once slated to become a regional jail, including a 50-bed secure-treatment unit for male offenders and a 192-bed pod for remanded inmates and short-term sentenced inmates. The proposed facility, announced in 2000 by the Conservative government while former Nipissing MPP Mike Harris was premier, was to replace the existing North Bay Jail as well as Monteith Correctional Facility near Timmins.
The project hit a snag when it was determined it would cost an additional $15-million to extend city and water services to the site.
The psychiatric hospital building has sat empty for two years.
Before demolition crews arrived on site, Infrastructure Ontario circulated the property to determine if there were any further government requirements for re-use of the entire site. There were no takers.
“The property isn't currently for sale at this time. We have done some circulation for potential government use and we're still in that process,” Giffen said Tuesday.
The prime real estate land will be left vacant and the land where the hospital once stood will be grass.
Demolition crews are currently tearing down the former Civic Hospital on Scollard Street.
The Scollard site and the former Scollard site on McLaren Street were sold in 2011.
The properties were purchased by two developers for $5,000.
Hospital officials said at the time of the sale the alternative was spending $3 million to $4 million to demolish the two old buildings to meet environmental and safety standards before there was any hope of selling the 10 acres of land on which the buildings sit.
The developers are looking to use the sites for residential development.
www.nugget.ca/2013/01/16/psych-torn-down