The hotel property along Broadway Street began be demolished in September.
In March of this year the City of Yorkton was handed the property at 110 Broadway Street East – the former Ramada Hotel by Cornerstone Credit Union for taxes owing in the amount of $742,788.56.
At a regular meeting of Yorkton Council at the time Ashley Stradeski, Director of Finance with the City, explained the building as it sat was not saleable.
“The building’s in a lot worse shape than we’d thought,” he said, adding administration proceeded with a full review of the property and confirmed “. . . it’s in really bad shape.”
As a result, efforts to sell the building were not successful.
Prior to the final decisions by The Cornerstone Credit Union to hand the property to the City, The Cornerstone Credit Union had advertised the property for sale and had auctioned all contents of the property prior to the transfer of ownership to the City of Yorkton, detailed a report circulated to Council.
On May 5, 2021, 110 Broadway Street East was offered out to Public Tender for Sale, for a three-week period as is required by the Tax Enforcement Act. The tender included a $750,000 reserve bid and two options, which were to demolish the structure within six months or to repair/upgrade within six months.
There were no bids submitted for the purchase of the property by the tender closing date of May 26, 2021.
“It generated interest,” said Stradeski, adding the City took calls on the property but “at the end of the day there was zero bids on it.”
Stradeski did note to bring the building up to code before starting renovations was estimated to be almost $5 million.
The recommendation of Administration was to undertake demolition of the building, which was supported by Council June 28.
Some weeks later Council unanimously accepted the lowest tender of eight.
Seven bids were complete, and the bid received from Silverado Demolition Inc. was deemed to be best value as it was the qualified bidder with the lowest submitted bid, who also satisfies all other requirements of the City, noted a report to Council.
The bid price did not include the City of Yorkton landfill fees and will be the City’s responsibility.
On June 28, Council authorized Administration to proceed with a Public Tender for demolition of all structures at 110 Broadway Street East and associated parcels and to placing all associated fees on the property taxes thereafter and then to place 110 Broadway Street East and associated parcels for sale and re-development.
With the building gone the City will have a large lot to sell to try to recoup what will be approximately $1.25 million ($750,000 in back taxes and $450,000 in demolition costs).
