Downtown Huntsville’s iconic TD Bank building may soon have a new owner.
The building, located at the corner of Main and King Streets, has been vacant since mid-February 2018, when TD Bank moved its downtown operations to their newer location in Commerce Park. (See earlier Doppler story here.)
Jamie Lockwood, broker and co-owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty, says he has a conditional offer to purchase the building which he has listed for $875,000. According to Lockwood, there has been a lot of interest in the building. “I stood there for a whole day two Fridays ago and showed it all day long. I had four showings in one day,” Lockwood said.
The TD Bank, originally known as Dominion Bank, has been in Huntsville since 1899. According to the book, HUNTSVILLE More Pictures from the Past, the bank was originally located at 34 Main Street East, the present location of The Hudson Hair Salon. In 1925, when it needed more space, the bank moved to 38 Main Street East. The site had been the home of the White Bros. Hardware from as early as 1888. In 1913 White Bros. Hardware became known as Hern Hardware. That building was torn down and a new building for the bank was build. As written in More Pictures from the Past, “The new bank was an impressive building designed by John Lyle, one of Canada’s foremost architects of the era. He was responsible for designing the present Toronto Union Station, the Royal Alexandra theatre and the Memorial Arch at the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston. The builders of the Huntsville bank were Treagle and Sons.”
Photo courtesy of David Johns
What the new owners will do with the iconic building remains to be seen. Lockwood says it is a large building, with over 5,000 sq. ft. on two floors, which would make it hard for any local business to utilize, but it is possible to break up the building into offices and retail space.
Asked if he ran into any ghosts or found any wads of cash while in the building, Lockwood laughed and said, “No, I did take a look around. I found a couple of pens, and that’s about it.”
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Beautiful building: My only fear is that it could cannibalize some existing Main Street businesses. We’re losing enough of them to box-store heaven already. Suggestion: could a portion of the first-floor space be used for a grocery store? We have several seniors without cars in the downtown area.