The Independent

The former TD Bank in Dresden will have new life – Dresden Sidestreets Youth Centre has purchased the building with plans to turn it into a community hub.

The branch closed in June 2025. Sidestreets worked with a local lawyer, Stuart Kiar, and Realtor Karen Melton to strike a deal for the building.

The hub will not only welcome teens, as it has since 2000, but will expand to serve families and the broader community. Officials say youth drop-in programs will be the first services offered from the building. The organization plans to include community events, family activies, workshops, meetings, and seniors’ activities in the future.

“This space gives us the opportunity to expand youth programming while also creating a place where the entire community can come together. We see this as an investment not just in youth, but in the future of Dresden,” said Lori Ouellette, chair of the centre board of directors in a news release.

Both Ouellette and Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff say the centre will also bring renewed activity to the downtown.

Sidestreets will sell its current building across from the post office, to pay for the renovations to the former bank.