NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE Covenant Health's plans for redeveloping Riverside School on Second Street NW as a possible seniors facility, is making progress including investigating aspects of its historical significance.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
There is a possibility that the historic Riverside School building may not be demolished after all, according to documents revealed at city council on Monday.
In July 2018, the school was sold to Covenant Health, who planned to build a seniors’ living facility on the site.
Truman Severson, the then-president of Covenant Care and Covenant Health, told the News at the time that renovation of the historic building was not on the cards.
Last month, Covenant Health said it was working with the Heritage Resources Committee “to review historic documents and historic elements that may be of significance to the community,” said Derrick Bernardo, president, Covenant Care.
According to minutes from a Heritage Resources Committee meeting on Jan. 14, Bernardo had a conference call with the committee and noted “they have not yet made any decisions on how they will proceed with the building, but they are considering three options:”
The options under consideration include: possibly keeping the building, keeping the facade of the building or demolishing the building and perhaps saving and/or reusing certain historical elements in a new building, according to the minutes.
Covenant Health purchased Riverside School, on Second Street NW for $850,000.
About six months ago plans were set in motion to also purchase a lane way on the property that had a purchase price of $71,875.
It had never been used as a lane but was designated as such on city documents.
In June 2017, the bell rang for the last time at Riverside School.
The financial cost of maintenance of the building contributed to the decision to sell. The sale was approved by the Ministry of Education and proceeds from the sale were placed in the Medicine Hat Public School Division’s capital reserve fund.
