Cornerstone, a women’s support organization, is developing the former Loeb store site on Booth Street.
The three-year saga to renovate the derelict former Loeb grocery store on Booth Street is finally ending.
Cornerstone, a women’s support organization, has reportedly bought the site and plans to build a 40-unit social housing complex, says Eric Darwin, president of the Dalhousie Community Association.
When the grocery store closed, just before Christmas in 2006, the community lost access to a reasonably close food retailer. Loeb had been the only grocer in the area and had served the community for over 50 years.
Efforts to re-establish a grocer – Just Food Ottawa tried to organize a food co-operative – failed due to the size and condition of the property.
The building “looks modern from the outside,” says Darwin. “But inside the floors are all uneven; I gather it’s actually four or five houses that have just been banded together.”
In March 2009, the site was listed for $1.6 million. Cushman and Wakefield real estate took over the listing in June and are now in final negotiations with Cornerstone.
Ryan Barresi, the agent responsible for the site, confirmed that the deal would be completed later this month.
Cornerstone’s new site doubles its city-wide long-term housing capacity and frees up space in its other emergency facilities.
The Cornerstone women’s emergency shelter on O’Connor Street has 49 beds. The organization’s website says the beds are always full and each day it turns away 10-15 women due to lack of space.
Another site is a 20-unit support home that provides accommodation and advice “on menu planning, life skills, cooking, budgeting and other programs working towards removing any barriers to independence,” the website says.
A third facility offers affordable housing for six women who need minimal support.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes says Cornerstone will create “permanent accommodation for 20 senior women.
Twenty other units will be supportive housing, with 24-hour staffing, paid by provincial health dollars.”
She says the new building would benefit the entire organization.
“They need to get people into more permanent housing, [so that] they can take more people in emergency situations.”
The new apartments, Holmes says, would also be easier to access for senior residents. The current building is “an old three-storey bed and breakfast,” she says.
“There’s stairs to get up [to the door], then there’s stairs to get to the second floor and bedrooms.” Holmes says the new building would have ground floor access and elevators.
Sue Garvey, Cornerstone’s director, declined to comment on any specifics about the site, saying that there are still aspects of the real estate negotiations to be finalized. She will make a formal announcement about the site on Oct. 7, at the Dalhousie Community Association meeting.
“I’m sure the community will mourn not getting a grocery store,” says Holmes. “But, it appears the lot is too small . . . the new grocery stores want enormous square footage. They put everything in there – photography, dry cleaning, with a sea of parking.”
Newer grocery stores, such as the Loblaws on Baseline Road, are nine times larger than the old Booth Street Loeb. The Loblaws parking lot could hold 14 Loeb buildings.
Eric Darwin says he is happy with the progress. “I don’t want to see it stay vacant, and I don’t want to see it become a parking lot or an auto body shop. A housing complex sounds good to me.”