THUNDER BAY — City officials want to see the former Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital property put to use.
They're asking the province to demolish the building and transfer the land to the municipality in order to develop multi-unit dwellings like townhouses and apartments there, said coun. Kristen Oliver, chair of the inter-governmental affairs committee.
The province has “substantial interest in that property,” said Oliver.
Oliver was joined by Mayor Ken Boshcoff, and coun. Kasey Etreni in meeting with the ministers of infrastructure and of municipal affairs and housing at the 2025 Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Conference in Toronto to discuss their plans for the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital (LPH) property.
“I have to say that from almost the day after election day, numerous groups and organizations have come forward with fairly advanced site plans and proposals for that property. Our issue would never be finding someone who is interested in or who doesn't have the capacity,” said Boshcoff.
“They all have the capacity to do this, so it's a matter of the province allowing us to get into a place where we can make a decision and recognize a tender winner."
To move forward with any development on the property the province would have to transfer the land to the municipality.
Oliver said that the province is focusing on tackling the housing crisis with their growth plans and is recognizing municipalities, like Thunder Bay, that are meeting housing targets.
Thunder Bay saw 256 new housing starts last year, exceeding the provincial target of 187. For 2025, the city set a goal of 350.
Oliver said the city's proposals for the property seemed to be well received by the ministers.
As for the LPH building itself, Oliver said that council is requesting the historic building be demolished before being transferred to the city.
“The amount of capital dollars that would have to be sunk into that building are so substantial that it almost doesn't seem like the best value or the best use of (tax) dollars,” said Oliver.
“It's the province's building, so it would be the province's move on what they're doing with that. It wouldn't be costing the city any money to demolish that building,” she added.
In 2018, St. Joseph's Care Group closed its transitional care unit at the LPH.The 144-acre property and 500,000-square-foot building was then listed as surplus under a plan to accelerate the offloading of unused real estate by the province.
