A video this week shows the progress being made in demolishing the former general hospital in Sault Ste. Marie. After sitting vacant for more than 13 years, city council agreed to buy the Queen Street property in 2024 for $4.75 million. The plan then was to demolish the former structure, which had become a neighbourhood eyesore and a popular area for squatters. The plan was to buy the property and then have the city pay the $4.6 million demolition cost, before selling the property to a residential developer. However, the city later agreed to sell the land for $1 in exchange for developers to fund the demolition. City council accepted a combined bid from Green Infrastructure Partners Inc. and Ruscio Masonry and Construction Ltd, in which the developers agreed to apply for building permits on the site within five years. Once the new residential units are in place, the city stands to recover the money it has spent on the site through new property tax revenue. As the demolition progressed this summer, workers discovered a time capsule from April 1963, which had been buried there during the construction of the hospital. “We opened a time capsule this morning that was discovered during the demolition of the former general hospital,” Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said in a social media post July 7. “Inside were that day’s newspaper, a pamphlet about the General and Plummer hospitals, minutes of the meeting at which construction was approved and St. Benedict Jubilee Medals.”
