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Advocacy Programs Belvedere Convent and Orphanage City council has declared two buildings involved in a controversial centre city development, the Belvedere orphanage site, as heritage properties. Heritage designation will make it hard for the developer to get a demolition permit. On July 11, council said it would wait 90 days before making any decision on heritage status. That period didn't expire until October. But Deputy Mayor Marie White said the time was right Monday to make the decision, even though council has rejected heritage status for the buildings before. "The issue has been on council's agenda for a fairly long time," she said. "They are significant buildings to the city and the city's history." Myles-Leger Ltd.'s development plans for the 7.3-acre property originally included construction of condominiums, apartment buildings and service shops. The company purchased the site for $500,000 from the Sisters of Mercy, who left their convent in May 1999 because of safety concerns. Initially, the firm planned to tear down the buildings. But Myles-Leger, owned by brothers Randy and Bill Clarke, has been negotiating with the province to lease office space. Those talks aren't moving well. Randy Clarke was caught off guard by the decision when informed by The Telegram Monday. "This is just out of the blue," Clarke said. However, Shelly Morrissey of the Centre City Neighbourhood Association is pleased. "I think it speaks volumes for this council that they let it go through and not hold it off any longer," Morrissey said. "I think it will limit what (the developer) can do with the properties... It will smooth things over and make it a lot easier to come up with something that's acceptable to everybody in the area." Council has also said the developers, after submitting a detailed development plan, must meet with Morrissey's association, the Georgestown Neighbourhood Association and the provincial heritage foundation. Council will hire a facilitator for this meeting, James Oakley. "This could have been done a year ago," said her husband, Paul. The two-storey St. Michael's Convent is more than 170 years old, and the four storey orphanage was built in 1885. The convent, built in 1826-27 as a home for lawyer and politician Hugh Alexander Emerson, is the third oldest structure in the city. It was sold in 1847 to Bishop Michael Fleming as accommodation for the Franciscans, and it is where he died in 1850. The orphanage and the Benevolent Irish Society's St. Patrick's Hall, are the only surviving Second Empire style masonry institutional buildings in Newfoundland. Back... |
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