Sudbury to buy former Ledo Hotel for $900K, demolish building for parking

With an eye on easing a parking shortage downtown, Greater Sudbury is buying the former Ledo Hotel on Elgin Street with a plan to demolish it.

The purchase price for the property is $900,000.

“The building will be demolished and the lot will be considered for future parking,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre said on social media.

“I am happy that council is working productively to improve the functionality of our downtown in pursuit of ensuring that the City of Greater Sudbury remains an attractive place to live, work, and play.”

Council approved the plan during the closed-door part of its meeting Tuesday evening. Money for the purchase is from a special event centre fund.

Plans to build a new art gallery and library downtown – known as Junction East – have been paused as the city looks for ways to reduce costs.

After being proposed in 2016 for $46 million, global inflation and supply chain issues pushed the price to an estimated $98.5 million.

To meet increased demand for parking – and to make up for parking spots lost during construction – a staff report in 2020 suggested an $8.5 million underground parking garage could be, and that was before inflation spiked across the globe.

At a meeting in February, councillors voted to scale back plans to reduce the budget of Junction East to $65 million. A report on how to accomplish that is scheduled to be presented to council by the end of June.