Queen’s to purchase former KCVI property

Limestone Learning Foundation
Queen’s to purchase former KCVI property
Posted on 06/14/2021
Image of exterior of former KCVI building

Queen’s University and Limestone District School Board (LDSB) have received governance approval for the disposition and sale of the former Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute (KCVI) building and property located at 235 Frontenac Street in Kingston, Ontario. The announcement was made jointly today by Queen’s University and the Limestone District School Board.

"We are pleased with this pending acquisition of KCVI by the University," says Donna Janiec, Queen’s Vice-Principal Finance and Administration. "This is a great fit for Queen’s, as it directly adjoins our campus and will allow for the future expansion of our academic programming. It also means the KCVI property, which has played such a meaningful role in the lives of so many in the community, can continue to grow its legacy as a place of learning long into the future."

The Limestone District School Board declared the 1.26 hectare property, located north of the Queen’s campus immediately adjacent to Goodes Hall, surplus to the board’s needs in August 2020. Students were then relocated to the new Kingston Secondary School in December.

Following the requirements outlined in Ontario Regulation 444/98: Disposition of Surplus Real Property, the board offered the building for sale or lease to a list of preferred organizations, and Queen’s opted to pursue the offer.

"The sale of the former Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute is bittersweet for the Limestone District School Board," says LDSB Director of Education Krishna Burra." The building was home to generations of staff and students who spent a significant amount of time teaching and learning within those hallowed halls. While the school community has moved from the building and settled into the new Kingston Secondary School, the wonderful memories and legacy of KCVI will forever remain."

The LDSB hopes to use some proceeds from the sale to support the construction and transition of Kingston Secondary School. The use of proceeds from the disposition process requires Ministry of Education approval.

A re-designation and re-zoning of the property will be necessary prior to the University’s use of the property, and an application will shortly be submitted to the City. When the sale is finalized, the facility may be used on a temporary basis, however the longer term use has not yet been determined. Any future renovations will preserve the existing façades that have heritage designations. The University has significant experience with Heritage Designations of institutional buildings and maintaining facilities of a similar age, including having successfully repurposed Victoria School, a former primary school, into Goodes Hall.

Both parties hope to officially conclude the purchase and sale of this year later this fall.

For more information, please contact:

Karen Smith, Communications Officer, LDSB
613-544-6925 x 314 | 613-328-0947 mobile
Julie Brown, Media Relations Officer, Queen's University
343-363-2763 mobile


Backgrounder: School Board Disposition Process

When schools are closed in Ontario, school boards can declare these properties surplus to the board's needs. Once that has been declared, school boards can offer these properties for sale or lease. School boards are required to follow the requirements set out in Ontario Regulation 444/98: Disposition of Surplus Real Property (O. Reg. 444/98). Under this regulation, school boards are required to first offer surplus property for purchase or lease to a list of preferred organizations. This has to happen before the property can be sold or leased on the open market, and helps to facilitate the property remaining within the public sphere where there is a need and a financially viable proposal. When school boards choose to sell or lease a surplus property, they will provide notification to the preferred organizations in the jurisdiction in which the surplus property is located.

School boards will be required to circulate notification of surplus property sale or lease simultaneously to the following prioritized list of public organization before the property can be sold or leased on the open market. The prioritized list of public organization that would receive notification of surplus property before the property can be sold or leased on the open market are as follows:

1. Coterminous school boards
2. Agencies accommodating Section 23 programming
3. District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs) or Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSMs)
4. Public colleges
5. Public universities
6. Children's mental health lead agencies
7. Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs)
8. Public health boards
9. Provincial government (The Crown in Right of Ontario)
10. Lower-tier municipalities
11. Upper-tier municipalities
12. Local service boards
13. First Nation and Métis Organizations
14. Federal government (The Crown in Right of Ontario)

For additional information, visit 
www.ontario.ca/laws .


The Limestone District School Board is situated on traditional territories of the Anishinaabe & Haudenosaunee.