'Better days ahead': Hornepayne hopeful over plans to revitalize Hallmark Centre

Plans to redevelop a major Hornepayne, Ont., business centre could mean good things for the entire town if they come to fruition, the mayor says.

Hornepayne's Hallmark centre was built in 1980, and over the years housed businesses, a high school, a hotel, a swimming pool and gym, a restaurant, and other operations.

However, it was declared financially unviable, and has been mostly vacant since 2010. But now, plans are underway to bring the building back to life.

"Our specialty is infill, urban infill," said Alexander Bimman, principal of Toronto-based development company Due North. "We are beginning with ... the most-pressing needs of the community."

"To attract businesses, to attract employment, we need a hotel and a restaurant," he said.

Hornepayne mayor Cheryl Fort said a revitalized Hallmark centre could lead to big things for the town.

"It's renewed hope," she said. "People are excited, they really want to believe that this can happen."

Fort said when the Hallmark centre effectively shut down several years ago, the town lost a lot of services that weren't available anywhere else in the community, such as the hotel, gym, and retail space.

Plans include medical centre, housing

The plans for a new Hallmark centre include many of those things, as well as a medical centre and affordable seniors  housing. It would also help create employment in the town, and surrounding areas.

"All the industries around Hornepayne are moving forward, hiring people," Fort said. "There's just a momentum of growth, so to have the centre open would help to facilitate that so we could transition people that come for work."

"They could have a place to stay, we could open up further housing in our community by moving seniors into the residence that's proposed there," she said. "It would just add to growth and to bring our population back up to where it was."

Bimman said that currently, there is little in the way of available housing or accommodations in Hornepayne.

'Close to closing' on property

Fort said the building is currently in receivership, but it has been divided up and portions are available for purchase. The town does own some of the building, including the space occupied by the LCBO, Fort said, as does the Hornepayne Economic Development Corporation.

Bimman said Due North is "close to closing" on the property.

"We need to clean up the building, and we need to, perhaps change some partitioning, change some space," he said. "Repaint it, change the heating, ventilation, air conditions."

"This is work that can be done today, efficiently, in months rather than years."