Minto buys downtown Palmerston property for affordable rentals

PALMERSTON – Minto is unlocking affordable rental units in downtown Palmerston with the recent purchase of 212 Main Street West.

The town bought the property to provide affordable housing options and support the downtown core.

Apartment units will be rented out at 80% of market rent.

“This property was existing in a great location … close to all amenities, with vacant apartments and two vacant commercial spaces,” Minto CAO Gregg Furtney told the Advertiser in an email.

The two-storey, 10,104-square-foot building, at the corner of William and Main streets, is home to street-level commercial tenant Bombay Hub Sports Bar and Grill, which will remain open.

Two additional commercial spaces are vacant but will be cleaned up before hitting the market.

The town said it will work to fill the spaces to help “contribute to a welcoming and active Main Street.”

Upstairs, seven vacant residential apartments are being renovated, with up to three planned for occupancy between January and April.

There is a one-bedroom unit, five two-bedroom units and a three-bedroom unit.

“They will require a lot of elbow grease to get ready for the market,” Furtney said.

“We have some roofing to be completed, a couple of new exterior doors and windows to replace, and a lot of cleaning and painting to do."

The property had been on the market for around two years when the town began eyeing it this past spring.

Minto explored building new, renting, renovating and partnering with others, Furtney said.

But a business case made it clear the town “could make it work” with the downtown property, Furtney said, and staff applied for the town’s share of the Wellington County Housing Development Fund.

The $7-million fund, to be split between the county’s seven lower-tier municipalities, was created with money from the county’s Continuum of Care project in Aboyne, which was abandoned due to ballooning costs.

Each municipality except for Wellington North applied for funding by the Sept. 30 deadline, according to the county.

The county said it released Minto’s full $1-million allotment to go toward the Main Street West purchase and renovation.

Furtney declined to say how much the town purchased the property for, and who it was purchased from, citing closed meeting policy protecting the details.

Minto Mayor Dave Turton said the purchase “is an opportunity for the town to address a real community need while making better use of an existing downtown property.”