The City of Kingston is stepping into the real estate market — though not, it hopes, for long.

Kingston has entered into conditional agreements to acquire two former Catholic elementary schools from the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board. It is now looking for institutional partners that can give the properties a second life while maintaining their community value.

The former St. Peter Catholic School at 48 Seventh Ave. is valued at nearly $2 million. Kingston intends to retain ownership and seek an organization interested in a lease or lease-to-own arrangement.

City staff framed the acquisition as a way to protect the property’s public role. Paige Agnew, Kingston’s commissioner of growth and development services, said there “may be public benefit” in acquiring the site to ensure it remains in institutional use.

The school is also beside Ronald Lavallee Memorial Kiwanis Park, giving the city the option of expanding the park in the future, although no such project has been proposed.

The plan for the former St. Patrick Catholic School at 158 Patrick St., valued at about $2.2 million, is more transactional. The city intends to find an institutional buyer willing to acquire it at fair market value and preserve its community use.

Potential occupants could include schools, daycares, libraries, community centres or places of worship. The city has emphasized that housing, homelessness programs and other social services are not among the intended uses.

City staff say the strategy is intended to find institutional occupants for the two vacant schools while preventing the well-located properties from being sold for more intensive redevelopment.

Pictured: The former St. Patrick Catholic School at 158 Patrick St. in Kingston.

Credit: Google 2023