A prime piece of downtown real estate has been sold.
The former home of the defunct Guelph Mercury daily newspaper at 8-14 Macdonell Street has been purchased by Guelph businessman Serge Moraca, the Guelph Mercury-Tribune reported. A purchase price was not disclosed.
According to online sources, Moraca is the principal founder and chief executive of Meducom Health Inc., a pharmaceutical marketing company that operates out of 18 Macdonell Street, a building attached to the former Mercury building.
He purchased the neighbouring building through his Downtown Mercury Development Corp. He owns other downtown properties, including the former Budds building on Wyndham Street.
Real estate company Cushman and Wakefield handled the sale, placing the building on the market in the spring, a few months after the Mercury discontinued operations at the end of January. The sale was conducted via a confidential bidding process.
The iconic half-globe sculpture that was affixed to the wall above the entrance of the building was removed a few months ago and said to be donated to the Guelph Civic Museum.
The property is a short walk from the stairs of landmark Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate Church, and joined at the walls with The Albion Hotel.
Built in the early 1950s, the Mercury building was built to last, with a bunker-like shipping and receiving dock and mailroom as one of the property’s more industrial features. The building has a large parking lot that fronts Norfolk and Cork streets at the rear.
One section of its basement, with it thick concrete walls and floor, once held the newspaper press. It was shut down early 2014 as a cost-saving measure, and later removed. The first and second floors have large office spaces, and there are a number other rooms large and small throughout the building.
Owned by Metroland Media Group, a division of TorStar Corporation, the property attracted the attention of a number of developers, primarily because of its excellent location.
Moraca was out of the city Monday and could not be reached for comment. His plans for the building appear to be tentative as this point. According to the Mercury-Tribune report he plans renovations and a combination of commercial and office occupancy over the next few years.
In a telephone message Monday, Marty Williams, executive director of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, said the sale is a big win for the downtown.
“It’s a local guy with some interesting plans that will bring some new life into the downtown,” Williams said. “It’s putting people back to work in the building. So, it’s all good if people are working, and it’s animating the building and putting it to use. I think that’s certainly a great thing for the downtown.”
When the building first went on the market many speculated about its future prospects and potential. A number of locals believed it would make way for a multi-storey office/residential building with some of its current structures and character preserved.
Torstar Corp. has seen its stock value sink considerably in recent times, dropping in the past year from a high of $4.25 to a current low of about $1.45.
The company stated among its reasons for shutting down the 149-year-old Mercury declining readership and falling revenues.
