The City of Morden has taken the first step towards seeing new life breathed into a significant landmark downtown.
An option to purchase the historic land titles building at Eighth and Stephen Street has been awarded to Hive Development Group, and they are thrilled to have the opportunity to revitalize a key piece of the city’s heritage.
Hive has shared the city’s dream to preserve the building’s historical essence while adapting it to meet contemporary needs, said Heather Francis, who together with husband James heads up Hive.
“We have been admiring that building for quite a few years already,” she said. “We’ve been kind of eyeing it for years, wondering how we could get our hands on that building and do something with it, bring it back up to some of its former glory.
“It really is a landmark of downtown Morden. To see it sitting empty there for a few years, we just felt it was such a shame,” Francis added. “We are very much looking forward to officially owning it and then getting to work on restoring this beautiful building.”
The former Morden land titles building at 351 Stephen Street was built around 1896 for grocer Harry Meikle.
The west half of the main floor originally housed a branch of the Bank of Hamilton, but, following the bank’s 1923 merger with the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the space was used to house local circuitry for the Manitoba Government Telephones (later Manitoba Telephone System). The telephone utility occupied the space until 1961.
From 1963 to 1972, the municipal assessment branch was located there, and the land titles office occupied the east half of the building since the early 1920s and took over the entire building in the 1970s. The second storey was occupied by a variety of businesses through the years, including dressmakers and law firms.
“It’s a part of downtown Morden that can be there for many more years to come,” said Francis, who stressed they want to develop a plan that “honours the history of the building. We want to preserve all of those original features, but some things need to be brought up to current standards.”
Over the next year, Hive Development Group will work with a variety of experts to develop a rehabilitation plan that will ensure the building’s longevity.
Upon receiving the go-ahead from the city, the initiative will kick off with crucial structural repairs followed by the restoration of the building’s unique exterior features. The interior will then undergo a complete transformation with mixed use in mind.
“It is in need of quite a lot of things, so this year we will be engaging lots of different experts,” said Francis, noting the project will require expertise with stone masonry and proper restoration of the heritage features of the building.
“We are not experts in the building techniques they used in the late 1800s, so we need to consult with experts because we want to do this in the right way so that we use the right materials and the right techniques.”
Francis is uncertain at this point as to the possible timeline for the project.
“It also hinges on the city’s sewer and wastewater project’s progress … until such a point where that is going ahead satisfactorily, the city won’t be issuing development permits,” she suggested.
“The actual restoration itself I would guess would take probably one to two years,” Francis added. “Right now, we’re in the very early planning stages, but our vision is commercial on the main floor … that is, I think, the best use of the space for downtown Morden … and then residential on the top floor as well.
“We are open to different tenants, different commercial tenants, and we have some ideas ourselves … over the next year or two, it will be exciting to see exactly what direction it goes and who ends up as commercial tenants,” she concluded. “We’ll always be open to talking with people who might be interested in that space.”
