The demolition of Barrie Central Collegiate and Prince of Wales Public School will likely be completed within the next three months.
Work is already well underway on Prince of Wales School and demolition of Barrie Central will be 'starting shortly,' according to Scott Higgins, President of HIP Developments.
Higgins says the million dollar demolition project of both buildings will leave some parts still standing.
The facade and walls of the original Prince of Wales School will be shored up to be incorporated into a public park.
Fisher Auditorium will also escape the wrecking ball.
"We're keeping the theatre up and conversations with the city are ongoing. It's no secret what they city is exploring," Higgins said of Barrie city council's desire to reconstruct Fisher into a multi-purpose cultural and events centre.
"We want to do a multi-residential project. At this point it will have rental apartments, likely to have some condominium apartments and then we're still exploring what that architecture and layout is going to look like. But a lot of it depends on what the city wants to do as it relates to the Fisher Auditorium."
And Red Storey Field, Higgins says, which could be transferred to HIP in a land swap with the city that would see the YMCA built on a spot near High and Dunlop Streets.
The chimney of Barrie Central Collegiate will also stay put.
"We're dealing with the Ministry of Natural Resources on chimney swifts. There's the potential for chimney swifts and birds using it as habitats so we're working through all the appropriate steps with the ministry to make sure that doesn't get affected. We shore it up and we keep the chimney up," said Higgins.
"We did all the monitoring, documentation, registrations with the ministry. All the proper protocols to make sure we're not doing the wrong thing. The protocol will either be keep it in place as part of a redevelopment or to rebuild that habitat somewhere in close proximity," he said.
"So you'll see the theatre, the Prince of Wales original school walls and you'll see the chimney. And everything else will start to come down."
The Barrie Central development has a price tag of 'well north of $100 million, probably $120 to $150 million when we're done,' according to the HIP President.
Design and architectural elements are still up in the air until HIP Developments learns the city's final plans.
"We know it will be in tower form. We're envisioning I would say probably between 12 and 18 stories, maybe 12 and 15 stories. We have some preliminary designs. The zoning bylaw right now would allow a 14 or 15-story building. We don't have a final boundary of lands to develop but it is zoned for a mixed use project."
Higgins says once demolition is complete, there will be at least 12 months of some type of planning capacity. Possibly 18 to 24 months before construction would start.
Occupancy of the buildings would be four or five years from now.
"There's been a ton of interest," said Higgins, who reports that more than 1,000 people have registered to learn about the project on HIP's website. "Exactly what they're interested in is tough to say. We know a lot of them are interested in living there. A lot of them are just interested in what's happening," he said.
"We had a tremendous response. I think a lot of people know the site well, have followed it for years. It's in a great location in terms of redevelopment of that component of downtown past the Five Points. I think we need to breathe some new life into that specific area there."
The original plan was to build all rental units but that could change.
"We really want to bring some new rental apartments to the Barrie marketplace. We think Barrie has a lack of quality rental products. there's lot of it but there's low vacancy," Higgins explained.
"We're certainly going to bring some rental apartments that will have a mix of ranges of rents. The idea is more affordable things right up to some luxury apartments. And then, generally speaking we have a mix of rental and condominium ownership in our projects. We haven't decided right yet. We have a lot of interest in the rental side right now. But I can see us doing a little bit of both."
The company is not planning a huge commercial component, instead aiming to drive people to downtown Barrie.
There could be some shops, a restaurant or a cafe and public art installations are planned for along Bradford Street.
Final plans for trails and landscaping are also on hold pending the city's plans.
"We're excited," said Higgins. "We know the importance of the site so we're not going to rush something. We're going to make sure there's a legacy component to BCC and we're going to make sure this site remains a jewel in the city."
