By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Questions over how to best optimize municipal services in downtown St. Marys and how to solve current space needs at the library are now focused on two key buildings in the downtown core as the town’s downtown service location review resumes after a nearly two-year pause.
On Dec. 18, 2024, the town’s downtown service location review advisory committee met for the first time since March 2023 – the first and only meeting of the committee. The original project, which was driven by space needs for various municipal services including the library, police, community outreach and social services, would have seen the development of a master plan by consultants a+LiNK Architecture Inc. with recommendations on the most efficient deployment of services and programs at St. Marys town hall (the lower level and auditorium), the library, the train station and the former Mercury Theatre at 14 Church St. N, the latter of which the town purchased in 2021.
“We bought it because it was a strategic move knowing we had the library, town hall and that new building across the street; we’d hoped to create a campus of services,” town CAO Brent Kittmer told the Independent. “In 2021, the province still had these grants called modernization grants, so we applied for a grant and were successful, and it was to complete a study of all the services the town offered in and around the downtown and to help us figure out where strategically to place them … amongst (the four buildings).”
From January to April 2024, the library board undertook a space-needs review showing the library will need an additional 2,638 square feet in 2034 at the end of the 10-year planning period.
Though the town hired a+LiNK to begin the preliminary work after receiving the modernization grant from the province, two key changes to municipal service delivery ultimately led to a change in scope for the project. First and foremost, the town undertook a renovation of town hall that, once complete, saw the optimization of staff offices and service delivery in that building and in other town buildings outside the downtown core. Second, the town relocated its Service Ontario office to the municipal operations centre (MOC) from its previous location on Queen Street West, which also necessitated the shifting and optimization of staff offices and service delivery at the MOC.
“Over time, we kind of started naturally doing our own service delivery review and figuring out where things needed to go, and because we realized that, we went back to council in May of 2024 and asked them to consider rescoping the downtown service review … (for) developing a future vision of how we best use the train station and then how we also best use the newly acquired 14 Church St. N,” Kittmer said. “That’s the scope that we’re now working with and it’s just to create the future vision for those two buildings.”
At the recent advisory committee meeting, members were presented a number of potential uses for the former Mercury Theatre building and the train station, and they provided their thoughts and any additional ideas for future uses of those buildings.
For the former Mercury Theatre building, Kittmer said the notion of establishing a cultural hub on the first floor with space for cultural organizations like the museum, library and art gallery to engage with the public seems to be gaining traction with committee members and town staff. On the second floor, Kittmer said the idea of establishing additional office space to accommodate future growth of town staff, and meeting rooms or program space for community organizations and social services like the chamber of commerce, the library, Ontario Works and Stratford Social Services on the second floor of the building is also gaining support.
As for the train station, which has also housed the St. Marys Station Gallery since 2016, the town has hired Angela Brayham, former curator of Gallery Stratford, to lead a feasibility study to develop a future vision and strategic plan for the town’s involvement in the gallery moving forward, which is still in its data-collection phase. Whether the gallery remains at the train station or is moved elsewhere, possibly to the former Mercury Theatre building, has not yet been determined.
Brayham has also been retained as project manager for the entire downtown service location review project.
As the train station’s primary function somewhat limits what that building can be used for, Kittmer said ideas for that building are focused on uses that complement train travel like a small café, retail space or space for a St. Marys Museum display welcoming visitors to town with heritage and cultural information.
Comments and further ideas for both buildings discussed during the Dec. 18 advisory committee meeting have been forwarded to the a+LiNK consultants, who will conduct further investigation on each and bring a report back to council, likely in the spring, to launch a more fulsome discussion around the council table.
Renovations to former Mercury Theatre building nearing completion
As work on the downtown service location review resumes, renovations to the former Mercury Theatre building at 14 Church St. N have entered the home stretch.
The building, which was first built in the mid to late 19th century and then expanded in 1900, had sat vacant since 2006 before the town purchased the building and first opened it up to area residents for tours in early 2022 before renovations began in November 2023. As renovations of the building were not a top priority for the town, Kittmer said staff were able to establish a relaxed timeline for the work with its construction contractor.
“There’s no work that we’re doing right now at 14 Church St. that will, say, box us in for a future use of the building,” Kittmer said. “Really, the whole project at 14 Church St. will create a structurally sound shell of the building. It’s a blank template. The first floor, we completely tore it out, put a new flooring system in – put structural steel as well as new floor joists in – and we did the same thing (to) create a second floor as well.
“It will stand now as a building that has two usable floors and a basement that will need some future improvement to make the basement in better shape than it is today. It will be sitting there ready for council to pick a design, say in June, out of our downtown service (location) review, and then say in the next three to four years, then they can start renovating 14 Church St. (for that specific design).”
The work done on the building so far includes a complete gutting of the interior back to the exterior walls, the removal of sections of problematic concrete in the basement, the pouring of new structural footings for the first floor, the installation of structural steel and floor joists for the first and second floors, and the demolition and reconstruction of the north-facing block wall.
“Now, inside what they’re doing is up at the very top of the building where the roof trusses are, there were two lath and plaster ceilings there, so they’re pulling both of those down and they’re being disposed of, and then the final thing that’s going to happen is they’ll insulate the underside of the roof. That will complete the job,” Kittmer said.
With the remaining work expected to be completed by the spring, Kittmer said the total cost between the purchase of the building and the renovations is estimated at roughly $1 million.
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