City council votes for heritage designation for building on proposed school site
International Playing Card Company building site was bought to build a new French immersion school
Windsor's city council voted unanimously to grant the International Playing Card Company building — planned site for a new school building — a heritage designation Monday night.
The Greater Essex County District School Board bought the former factory on Mercer Street with the intention of building a French immersion school.
The new building is meant to house students who are currently being educated at the Giles Campus, formerly known as W.D. Lowe High School.
Mayor Drew Dilkens said the school board knew the designation was a possibility.
"They certainly went in with their eyes open, knowing what the process was, knowing this could be a reality, and the comments that were made in the media by the Greater Essex County District school board certainly showed a willingness to work to preserve at least portions of the building," he said.
Dilkens said he believes the building has heritage value and some features worth preserving.
"I think council made the right move tonight to designate, give a notice of intent to designate, which mean no demolition permit can be pulled on that building," he added.
Last week the GECDSB sent out a press release stating they'd received more than $15 million from the provincial government to build the new French immersion school.
Todd Awender, superintendent for the board, said there are probably no structural parts of the property that the board could save, but there are some design elements that could be used.
"We'd love to get a new school going right away," he said. "This certainly does cause a little bit of a pause in the process and hopefully in the future it will come out so that we can get the school up and going and get the students in a brand new learning environment."