Since Sears closed its location at Fairview Park Mall, the fate of the building has been the subject of debate.
The 140,000 square foot building closed in early 2018.
The mall owner, Cadillac Fairview, has applied for a demolition permit to do a major redevelopment, but opponents are calling for a heritage designation.
“That would be 13,884 tonnes of extra stuff into our landfill, that would be 1,384 dump trucks, and that’s like 2,700 extra trips on these roads that we can’t afford to keep up,” said Kae Elgie, who is a member of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.
Elgie said that the building, which was only built in 1965, is structurally sound and deserves heritage designation.
Paul Singh is a councillor for Ward 6 and sits on the Heritage Committee, and he said the majority of the committee believed the building should be considered heritage.
He disagrees.
“Although it’s a unique building, still the attributes are not to the point that they deserve to be designated, and the demolition and the development should proceed forward,” he said.
An issue divided, a decision at council meeting would end up denying the heritage designation.
