Building was stripped down to walls
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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — One half of the former Hoyles-Escasoni complex was sold last year and is currently in the process of being turned into seniors apartments and a long term care (LTC) facility.
The property, which was subdivided into two parcels in 2021, was sold to Glovertown businessman and former provincial health minister Paul Oram, president of the Oram Group.
According to the City of St. John’s, there is an active application to redevelop the building into a 100-bed personal care home and seniors’ apartments.
The former long term care home closed in 2014 after a new facility was opened in Pleasantville and was sitting vacant for two years' when it was purchased via tender by Metro Environmental Ltd. for $650,000. At that time, government cited a $4 million price tag to demolish the building and $100,000 in annual maintenance costs as reasons behind the sale.
Ted Penney, owner of Metro, told SaltWire a significant amount of work went into the buildings and the property in the intervening years. The land had to be remediated and both buildings were essentially stripped down to the walls.
“The province is not stupid, don't ever think that, they’re not out there giving away something,” he said. “What they sold was a liability, that’s what they gave away.
“They only had a building that wasn't worth their while to put the money into or to renovate it. I didn't renovate the building, I brought the building right back to the steel. There's nothing inside the Escasoni building, I tore out everything, every piece of pipe, everything, they got three floors of nothing, to renew it and start it fresh.”
He said renovating the buildings would have been far more costly, and the only real option for the government, not even getting into the work that had to be done on the land.
SaltWire reached out to Oram regarding the sale and renovation of the building, but did not receive a reply by press time.
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