Train Station may be sold to private partnership for “community initiative centre,” historical groups oppose idea

Huntsville is poised to sell off another of its assets – this time the town’s historic train station – for a nominal amount to a private group.

In this case, the proposal is to sell the train station property, which has heritage designation that would have to be honoured by new owners, for two dollars. The Town will make necessary repairs to water and sewer infrastructure as already approved at $158,000 in the 2017 budget; a new owner would be responsible for remediating the mould in the building (estimated at $120,000), replacing the HVAC system (estimated at $30,000), plus necessary upgrades in keeping with the heritage easements.

During an RFP process that closed on May 19, just two proposals were submitted – one by the Huntsville and Area Historical Society; the other, the winning bid, by a partnership comprising John Pantaleo, Adam Caswell and Scott Richardson.

The partners propose to establish a “Community Initiative Centre” with a commercial kitchen where community events or private gatherings could be hosted. The kitchen could also be used by small businesses to test and develop products for sale, or for initiatives like a pop-up restaurant where the space would be used for a single purpose for a short time. The offer to purchase includes the full property including the CN Train Shed and all associated leases/legal documents, but the partners have only publicly indicated their plans for the train station.

Adam Caswell said the building could become a cultural hub, and that if and when their proposal is accepted by the town, they can begin to look at how they could work with community groups. He said they will honour the lease with the Huntsville Suzuki School of Music, which was displaced due to air quality issues in the building, and that they would like to have another permanent tenant in the building as long as it wouldn’t close off the existing space. And should passenger rail service return to Huntsville, they would want to incorporate that into their plans. “That would be a huge bonus… We want people flowing through there. It’s a gorgeous old building with lots of character.”

It’s that feature – the heritage of the building – that Caswell and his partners feel will make it an attractive addition to the available community rental space in Huntsville.

Most of the councillors at the June 28 General Committee meeting said that they liked the idea, with several acknowledging the work other groups had done on the train station to date. In the end only Councillor Dan Armour voted against it. (Councillor Jason FitzGerald declared a pecuniary interest and wasn’t present for the discussion and vote.)

“When the town acquired it (in 2003), they did it to preserve the train station,” said Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano. “But it was the train station society and historical society and Suzuki school who did major renovations to that building… I just want to say I’m very appreciative of everything they did to turn the train station into what it is today.”

Terziano noted that the Town’s goal has been to relieve itself of some of its assets and that she felt the proposal put forward by Pantaleo, Caswell and Richardson was a good way to do that. “I feel like it’s a win and as much as I know the train station society wishes that we could continue on the way we’ve been going, I think this is the best deal for the town and taxpayers.”

Mayor Scott Aitchison concurred and said that he has “read all the letters people have sent me and I am sensitive to their fears about not being able to use the train station and losing it as the historical gem that it is,” but that he is reassured by the proposal.

This is a creative solution that ensures that the train station will always be there, it will be protected, it is covered by the Ontario Heritage Easement. These proponents want to do something in the building that will make it a very active space and take that expense [of maintaining the building] away from taxpayer… It is important to our history… thanks to the private sector partners we can continue to make sure it’s important for the rest of our history, too. I caution the people who are concerned about this to just stay engaged and be involved. The future of the train station is brighter than it may have ever been as a result of this RFP process.
Mayor Scott Aitchison

The groups who were instrumental in renovating the train station disagree, however. In a letter to Doppler, Elizabeth Stokes Weber, President of the Huntsville and Area Historical Society, wrote, “The Train Station in many ways formed our beginnings and was the foundation for all things Huntsville. Today the Station sits vacant and neglected due to the lack of action by the town. The Town wants to sell the one thing that truly ties us together as a community, the one space that allowed us to come together to be who we are today. It is sad that the Station that was once the centre of all things Huntsville will be lost to our community if it is sold.”

She also noted that “The Historical Society has reached out to the Town on numerous occasions offering to help obtain numerous grants and tap funding sources to preserve the Station, this on top of the thousands of dollars and volunteer hours put into the space by the Train Station Society but to no avail. The Town seems to have forgotten our roots and has a vision that only finds solutions ‘in the box’ seemingly afraid to be creative, adventurous, face adversity and dream of bigger and better solutions – things our founders lived by.”

(Above) The Huntsville Train Station in 2003 prior to renovations (left) and post-renovations in 2011 (right). Photos courtesy of the Huntsville Train Station Society

Lucille Frith, President of the Huntsville Train Station Society, said that the society was disappointed with the outcome of the RFP process, particularly given the more than $65,000 and many volunteer hours invested in restoring the train station, but that it would want to explore opportunities with the property’s new owners should council accept the proposal.

She argued, however, that community, non-profit groups would be in a better position to rehabilitate the train station. “The town of Huntsville should NOT consider selling this asset just to ‘get it off the books’ but to invest in its health by working with community charitable nonprofit groups who can raise funds to assist with its rehabilitation.”

The Town of Huntsville does not need to sell the train station – it only cost the 2015 population of Huntsville $2,626 or $0.14 each to operate the Huntsville Train Station for a year [as reported in the Q&A portion of the RFP process] – but the Town needs help funding the cost to repair it. This can be accomplished with the help of the groups that believe in the significance of the station to our Town.
Lucille Frith, President, Huntsville Train Station Society

Both Frith and Stokes Weber urged anyone interested in keeping the train station in public hands to contact their councillor prior to the July 24 council meeting.

Caswell said that the partners would be interested in an ongoing relationship with the Huntsville Train Station Society (HTSS), but he couldn’t comment on what that might look like, and added that fears about changes to the building are unfounded. “We don’t want to do anything to the building that would negatively affect it – and we can’t because of heritage easement. We are not about to destroy history in this area. We are about preserving the history of the area.” He added that all three partners are local, and that Caswell has a personal connection to the train station – his dad once worked there.

They hope to make the venture self-sufficient and Caswell said they haven’t considered the possibility of failure. But should Council insist upon a reversionary agreement to buy back the property if it is ever listed for sale, Caswell said the partners would likely only look to recover the money they had spent to fix up the building. At the General Committee meeting, however, Lambe noted that Pantaleo had indicated to the Town that they would seek market value for the property.

The matter is to return to council at its regular meeting on July 24.

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