A building can be more than bricks and mortar.
From toasters to teachers, 80 Bradford St., near the city's lakeshore, has been a hub of activity for more than 70 years.
The former Canadian General Electric (CGE) plant has morphed over the years, from producing electrical appliances in the mid-1940s and '50s and beyond, to currently housing upwards of 150 small-businesses and community-oriented tenants in the 17-acre property, which backs onto Innisfil Street.
Some of those tiny offices provide huge, larger-than-life services to people who need a hand up.
Former CGE employees still gather to celebrate their camaraderie, and the occasional toaster is shipped to the (former) plant for minor repair, typically labelled in elderly hand script.
General Electric, and eventually Black and Decker, took their leave of the facility in the mid-1980s, but there is much life left in the building and a growing community unto itself at 80 Bradford.
Today, the 300,000-sq.-ft. building — half of which is ‘transient’ or month-to-month storage space for industry — is home to those community-based businesses which appreciate a chance to help the residents of Barrie.
Stephen Sperling, president of the Aerarium Group of Companies, has owned the property since the mid-1980s. The company owns and manages nearly 50 properties in Barrie and took over the Bradford Street building that was “virtually empty” in 1985, he says.
The building was constructed in several stages, beginning back in 1947, with the last piece being added on in 1962 at the rear of the building.
“Ultimately, we spent more money redoing the building than we paid for it,” he says from his office near Entrance #3 of 80 Bradford.
(Note: The interior maze of the 80 Bradford building is less confusing if the door numbers are known ahead of time!)
“The tenants that are here are wonderful,” Sperling says from a ground-floor office originally used by a GE executive.
(More on Ron Stevens later.)
“We took the idea of providing affordable office space in a community setting and it’s worked,” Sperling says. “The rental rates are considerably less than other buildings we have for offices and it provides a downtown area (close to where tenants) have parking. A lot of them are community oriented and a lot of them interact with each other.”
Judy DesRoches, executive director of Barrie Literacy Council, says the group has been at 80 Bradford for 26 years.
The council offers free training for tutors, runs classes, has independent study and free training for adults.
“We were looking for space that was affordable because we are a non-profit charity and there is not a lot of money coming in,” she says. “We started very small and as we grew into more space and as our service offerings changed, we needed more room.”
Barrie by the Bay made that happen, she adds.
“They painted everything and replaced all the carpet. It’s made a huge difference, particularly for the students. For us, it was nothing short of miraculous,” DesRoches says.
Sperling says the back half of the building at Innisfil Street was designed to provide what he calls “public storage” for industry.
“They have cyclical requirements for space; they might need it for four or six months, so we’re filling that need,” he says. “We’re also helping ourselves, because some of these businesses have decided, after dealing with us, that we would help provide them space on a permanent basis.”
That business growth has included plenty of changes. One particular business grew from a closet-sized 1,600-sq.-ft. office to one of 10,000 sq. ft. in size.
“We have a history of dealing with tenants who have started with very small spaces and grown into larger ones,” Sperling says. “We’ve been the incubator of industry.”
Long before the current small-business tenants at 80 Bradford arrived, the site was home to Canadian General Electric (GCE) and was one of the big industry players in Barrie, back in the day along with General Tire, Volkswagen and DeVilbis
Ron Stevens was manufacturing manager at GCE then and remembers the hey day when he walked in the door in 1980.
“When I arrived we were just getting involved in casting aluminum skillets, or frying pans. We had an aluminum smeltering (operation) there and a full-fledged assembly plant in the back area,” he says, alluding to part of the plant that is near Innisfil Street and backs onto Red Storey Field. “We also had warehousing because the consumer products we were producing needed to be packaged on skids and then shipped out.”
By Stevens’ time, the CGE employee numbers had dwindled down from about 1,200 to 500 or 600, but the plant still had a significant economic, and social, contribution to the community.
“Employees were involved with all kinds of charity events, supporting local theatre and the college and other things,” he says. “If you look back historically, as I understand it, it was also a focal point for the community. Plays were put on there. Local bands would play; the Central Collegiate Institute band would play there. It was kind of a social hub for the community as well as a manufacturing hub for many years.
