(Photo: Tim Durkin/ Quinte News)
The former Memorial Arena in Belleville’s downtown has been made more marketable.
Last night the city’s Planning Committee decided to recommend that city council rezone the arena and the former Hospital Auxiliary “Opportunity Shop” from Community to General Commercial to allow a much wider range of uses for the building.
Laurie Brown of the Historical Society and Architectural Conservancy expressed concern that although the buiding is a designated Heitage building it might lose some of that protection.
The city is actively trying to sell the property.
(Photo: Tim Durkin/ Quinte News)
A staff report to the committee indicates the land is designated a city centre significant heritage resource. The property has been declared surplus and is listed for sale by the city. It contains two buildings and a municipal parking lot.
Memorial was built in 1929 and acquired by the city in 1946, where it remained as an arena until closing in 2010.
The Hospital Auxiliary “Opportunity Shop,” beside the arena, was constructed about the same time, as a weigh scale building to house the scales that were used for the market.
