Whalen Building future up in air

City council will have a tough decision ahead as it contemplates the approval of $10 million in repairs to the historic Whalen Building.

At present revenues generated from tenants in the 98-year-old building are high enough to cover the cost of the work, which is expected to be stretched out over the next two decades. But, says Gerry Broere, the city’s manager of construction and renovation services, with the pending departure of the District Social Service Administration Board, this could change in a hurry.

“Next year, when the DSSAB moves out, there will be a loss of revenue where renewal dollars will be coming from the tax side,” Broere said Monday night, after city council gave the go ahead for a $719,028 contract to complete a portion of $3 million in emergency repairs slated for 2011 and 2012.

The work includes limestone removal, steel vertical mullion replacements and window lintel repairs this year, with roof parapet repairs and terra cotta re-pointing added to next year’s construction schedule..

Broere earlier told council that city administration is doing a wide-ranging review of the viability of the Whalen Building, and said he expects they’ll be presented with a couple of options when all is said and done.

“We’ll be presenting council with a couple of scenarios on how to fund this and we will be giving them the options of do they want to dispose of this asset, do you want to sell this asset or do we want to continue operating this asset, possibly under a different model,” he said.

Broere said it’s unlikely, though not impossible, that the city might tear down the building, a registered heritage property.

“For this building to be torn down there would have to be an application made to the Heritage Advisory Committee to lose its designation. There is a system in place to go through. Eventually it would have to go back to council actually to approve the loss of designation,” he said.

“At that point it could potentially be demolished.”

The iconic Whelan Building, located in the heart of downtown Port Arthur, is the home of Thunder Bay Hydro, the Community Economic Development Corporation and, most recently, Tornado Medical Systems.

The report is scheduled to be presented to council in October.