A 200-bed long-term care facility and luxury townhouses are part of a redevelopment planned for the former Sault Area Hospital site.

Southern Ontario businessman Italo Ferrari wants to put up 64 two-and-three bedroom townhouses at Water’s Edge Villas in the rear parking lot and vacant land at the front of the Queen Street East property. Eighty-five one-to-three bedroom apartments would be constructed at Water’s Edge Residences at the former Plummer renal building. The long-term beds would be housed at the former General site.

Sault Area Hospital moved to its current Great Northern Road site in 2011.

The nearly 20-acre downtown property was sold for $65,000 to Toronto-based TVM Group in 2013.

That company developed condominiums at the old Plummer hospital. TVM Group then sold the remainder of the former SAH site to Wilsondale Assets Management nearly two years ago. Ferrari is founder and general manager of the company based in Woodbridge, Ont. Wilsondale, with more than 2.5-square-million-feet of industrial, commercial and retail property, then assigned the site to Leisure Meadows. Ferrari is also general manager of Leisure Meadows. He declined to release the sale price.

“To find 14-and-a-half acres of waterfront in downtown Sault, I think it’s a great opportunity,” Ferrari told The Sault Star in a recent interview.

His company buys “non-performing assets” and repurposes them. In Windsor, Ferrari wants to redevelop a former school into an assisted care facility for seniors. Two more floors will be added to the former renal building, on the eastern edge of the former hospital property. About 10 penthouses may be built on the two new floors. Square footage is to be determined. David Ellis Architects did the design work. All units will face the water. Construction is expected to start in the spring and take about 30 months, said Ferrari.

An application was filed about six months ago with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the 200 long-term care beds planned for Leisure Meadows Community Living. All rooms would be private. Construction will start when the provincial government approves the beds.

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