City staff believe a small home tucked between a municipal parking lot behind St. Andrew's Church, with public access to Mill Pond and Little Riverside Park, is the key to create a "placemaking" site in Hespeler.
The city's manager of realty services is proposing to purchase 91 Spring Street as a way to eventually improve public amenities near the pond, in an area frequented by people launching kayaks and canoes for short paddles up the Speed River over the summer.
The move comes with the purchase price and ancillary cost of around $530,000 and would come out of the city's Core Areas Transformation Fund.
The 800 square foot home has been deemed in fair to good condition and comes with a lifetime lease agreement with the current tenant who will pay $6,000 per year to live there and must complete all required maintenance.
The property has been under the same ownership since 1972, and there have been attempts in the past by the city to purchase the property.
The city says it will complete any major repairs, so any surplus funds generated by the lease revenue will be placed in the city's capital reserve fund.
The report heading to council next week says the "purchase enables the City to land-bank and land-assemble for the City’s future plans for growth, development, and offerings of new amenities to the community as part of the City’s placemaking initiative."