A historic building in downtown Wingham will be going up for sale.
This week, council for the Township of North Huron approved a motion to declare the former museum, located at 273 Josephine Street, as surplus.
The building will be appraised before being put up for sale, but there could be complications coming with the potential unloading of the heritage property. The appraisal will cost the Township $3,500.
CAO Nelson Santos said the maintenance of the iconic clock tower could be a sticking point for a buyer.
"There is an opportunity to maybe enter into a service agreement with the potential purchaser that would identify those costs, operations or maintenance for the heritage piece for the clock," he said. "That's something we would have to discuss at the time of offer. If that's something council wishes to maintain, it would be an ideal opportunity to not have to relocate and still maintain a presence for it. It's quite the tradition and acknowledgement within the community to hear the bell tower."
Relocating the clock tower and the nearby Alice Munro Literary Garden could also be options council needs to consider down the line, depending on the potential buyer's intentions.
Council asked whether those potential purchasers should be notified that the building could be re-zoned and Santos said that would all be part of discussions.
"Any opportunity to re-zone or even have discussions with our eventual broker or buyer, those opportunities to explore re-zoning would come forward and we would go through an initial meeting to identify what that process would be for them" he told council. "That would create another condition on an offer potentially, but we want to make sure there's flexibility in getting the property to the public's hands."
Staff noted the museum has undergone a de-accessioning process over the last few years, and now sits nearly empty.
