Canada Post’s selling its Donway site
Local rep wants city to consider land for ice rink replacement
Kris Scheuer
(Written July 30 for Town Crier.)
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong wants the city to consider The Donway site as a possible location for new city ice rink.
A soon-to-be vacant post office in Don Mills could be an opportunity to acquire land for a new city ice arena in Don Mills, says Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong.
The site, at 169 The Donway West, is for sale. It’s located near the Don Mills Civitan Arena, an aging facility the city is trying to replace by 2020, when developer Cadillac Fairview takes over that site as part of its residential redevelopment.
The city’s in search of an affordable and suitable spot for a new ice arena in Don Mills and Minnan-Wong said the post office site is worth exploring.
“I heard it was on the market,” Minnan-Wong said July 29. “There were lots of rumours.”
He said he made a round of calls to the federal government, Canada Post and the broker, who confirmed the site is for sale.
Minnan-Wong said he will work with the city’s parks and recreation department to look at whether this site is a viable option, but admits there may be some challenges accommodating a twin-ice rink and parking.
“There may be an opportunity to partner with Cadillac Fairview. Maybe we can use their (existing) parking,” he added.
“The city needs to explore and exhaust every opportunity to see if the price is right and it’s an appropriate site,” Minnan-Wong added.
“It would be completely unacceptable that we found out we missed an opportunity.”
Repeated calls to Cadillac Fairview were not returned at press time, but a source close to the sale of the site did say both the city and Cadillac Fairview have made informal inquires about The Donway West land.
Any interested buyers have an equal opportunity to submit offers, said Canada Post spokesperson Jennifer Arnott.
The Donway West site has a 2008 assessed value of $2.7 million.
Canada Post is also preparing to put its 2 Laird Drive site on the market as well. Both the Laird and Donway locations are closing and operations will move to a new Canada Post site at 70 Wynford Drive.
Councillor Minnan-Wong will bring a formal request to North York Community Council Aug. 17 that the city investigate The Donway site for a the new ice rink.
Kris Scheuer 