City of Greater Sudbury to purchase the downtown Ledo Hotel for $900K

Sudbury city council voted Tuesday to purchase the Ledo Hotel in the northern Ontario city's downtown core for $900,000.

"As we all know it's a derelict building. It's an eyesore," Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre told CBC's Morning North.

"That's one of the things I said in the campaign. We have some broken window syndrome on a few buildings and that was one of them."

Lefebvre said the city plans to demolish the three-storey flat iron building and build a parking lot at the location; at least for the short term.

Over the longer term, he said the property, which is near the Sudbury Community Arena, could play a key role as the city looks to build an event centre in the downtown area one day.

Lefebvre said the city had a third party evaluate the property to make sure it was paying fair market value for the building and adjacent parking lot.

Immediate threat to life

In 2020 the Ontario Fire Marshal issued an immediate threat to life order after firefighters responded to a fire at the Ledo Hotel, which was a rooming house at the time.

Fire crews noted several safety concerns, including water leaking from the roof into a live electrical panel. There were also problems with the fire alarm system.

The building's 13 tenants were evacuated and were referred to other accommodations.

Also in 2020, a private sector group called Le Ledo Inc. proposed plans to redevelop the building into a multi-purpose commercial space.

"The intent is to bring some new life and new energy into the downtown," real estate broker Chris Tammi, a spokesperson for the group, said at the time.