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City Eyeing Downtown Property Takeover

Friday, 26 April 2013 10:55

Property taxes still aren't being paid on the former Capitol Theatre property in downtown Woodstock. If the delinquent property owner, from Toronto, continues to fail to pay, the city will be in a position by 2015 to take the property over. By that time, the tax bill will have climbed to $600,000. That's on top of the $500,000 the city spent in 2010 to demolish the old theatre that was starting to fail. (In photo - Oct. 2010, demolition crews get ready to take down the former Capitol Theatre.) Woodstock Mayor Pat Sobeski tells Heart FM neglected buildings become a catch 22. "It's an empty lot right now, we've got $600,000 (invested) because of the demolition costs which were imposed by the city. We don't own the property, so we could take back the property and it gives us at least control of the site. It could be used for parking, or who knows what down the road. It's a difficult situation for every municipality that have older structures in their downtown that are vacant." In the last year, the city has taken over the old Reg Hall building downtown, and the former Thomas Bus Factory on Tecumseh as part of tax arrears takeovers. The city still hasn't announced firm plans for either of those properties. The city is shoring up the roof of the Reg Hall building.

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