Market Tower purchase hits a brick wall

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Proceedings in the purchase of Market Tower by Fanshawe College came to a complete stop because the College’s needs were not met. Fanshawe will continue to explore other options.

After months of consideration, Fanshawe's conditional offer on Market Tower in downtown London has been rescinded, and the College is back to exploring other options for further downtown expansion.

Vice President of Administration Bernice Hull said that as with any real estate transaction, there are always conditional elements attached.

“There are a range of things that associated it with being able to meet our needs,” she said. “When we reached the conclusion that wasn't the case, then we went forward and made that known.”

Hull said setting up academic spaces is complex, and it wasn't practical to repurpose the Market Tower, located at the corner of Dundas and Richmond Streets, for the College's needs.

She also said that any major acquisition can take upwards of six months, and that the College had been working on Market Tower for “quite some time.”

While proceedings with Market Tower have been brought to a full stop, Hull said there are options the College will continue to explore.

“There are options, for sure,” said Hull. “We're quite confident we'll be able to find another option that will help us move forward with expanding our presence downtown.”

With the Howard W. Rundle building now open for business and 400 students out and about in downtown London, the College is looking to bring another 600 students to the downtown core.

“What we're doing is the agreement with the city was that we could bring 1,000 students downtown,” Hull explained.

The agreement came about in conversation with the City of London, said Hull.

“We felt it was then kind of number they were hoping for to inject some activity into the downtown core,” she said. “I think Fanshawe College felt it would create a critical mass of [college] activities that would make it viable as a second campus.”

Programs that could possibly move downtown were not specified, but are likely to be arts- or IT-related, said Hull.

“It's referred to the Arts and Education District in downtown London,” she said. “Think about the kinds of programs that would be most effective in a downtown environment where it could draw the synergies of the local activities and businesses.”

“We're thinking of continuing along that theme of other types of arts-related and IT-related programming, but possibly some hospitality [programs] as well.”

It may be back to the drawing board for now, but current College President Peter Devlin said in a news release, “Fanshawe College remains committed to working with the City of London as we move forward with our plans to expand our presence in downtown London. We are continuing to actively explore the range of options which will ensure the most appropriate learning environment for an additional 600 students in downtown London.”