Valued at $2.4 million, Devine Street school land sold for $1.5 million

Cathy Dobson/The Independent

A key three acres in the heart of Sarnia’s southend was auctioned off for $1.5 million on Monday, suggesting that the vacant lot may finally see some development.

The former Devine St. School site at the corner of Brock and Devine streets has sat idle since the 100-year-old school was closed in 2010.

Several owners bought and sold it, one tearing the historic school down in 2020 to make way for a 100-unit long term care facility that never happened.  

The most recent owner defaulted on the mortgage and the land was put up for auction by the Meridian Credit Union, according to London-based real estate broker Michael Marienwald.

An online auction started Aug. 19 with a starting bid of $1.5 million.

Marienwald said no bids were received until the final day of auction Sept. 14 That’s a common occurrence in his experience, he said.

His company, Anchor Realty, operates North American Auctioneers, which ran the online event.  The winning bid came in within three hours of the auction closing.

“This is a very tough property to sell,” Marienwald said.  “But there is definitely some good value there for a developer.

“It would be excellent for apartments and comes at a very good price,” he said.

The bank has until Friday to accept the bid.  Until then, the deal and the new owner won’t be confirmed.

Following its controversial closure in 2010, the old Devine Street School site was purchased from the Lambton Kent District School Board for $50,000 by local developer Charlie Dally.

He wanted to repurpose the historic building with residential units and invested money into asbestos removal.

The site was also rezoned by city council as Urban Residential, which includes nursing and retirement homes.

However, when no construction started, the vacant building was repeatedly vandalized and Dally boarded it up and erected high fences.

In 2020, the land sold from one numbered company to another for $3 million, according to listing information for the auction.

That year, Ottawa-based Sussex Retirement Living announced it would build a two-wing residence.  That was also a non-starter, hampered in part by the pandemic.

Marienwald said he believes the property is worth $2.4 million but put the starting bid at only $1.5 million.

“Banks don’t want to hold on to these properties,” he said. 

The market has slowed and Marienwald said power of sale and default auctions are becoming more common.