Resident used to hit the books at the former Mary J.L. Black library but instead may punch and kick at a possible martial arts school.
Officials with the Thunder Bay Public Library requested at city council to amend a bylaw to allow the former library on Brock Street West to become the next home of a martial arts school. Administration recommended the transformation adding that it would bring new life to the building.
Bard Philp, acting CEO for the Public Library, said they have had the property up for sale since they moved to the new location on Edward Street. The offer met all the requirements they needed in order to sell it, she said.
Ralph St. Jarre, real estate agent for the library, said it has been a process to market the property. He said they received the offer for the martial arts school at the same time as another bidder who wanted to use the building as a club.
“The martial arts school is the only offer that has been acceptable to the seller,” St. Jarre said. “It seems to fall into what the neighbourhood will accept.”
The bylaw also looked at additional relief for parking in the area.
Mark Smith, the city’s manager of Development Services, said they didn’t want the school to create problems with additional parking.
“The parking would be mainly for staff,” Smith said. “There is street parking. We still want to look at the kind of demand for parking by the uses that are being proposed. We wouldn’t want to see a reuse of a building that historically had a low demand for parking then converted into one that has a high need for parking. That could be problematic but I think what is being proposed won’t be dissimilar to what has been in place in the past”
The martial arts school that wishes to move into the building has yet to be named.
