Since the demolition of the old St. Elizabeth's Hospital building in 2011, the lot has sat vacant, with many residents wondering what exactly its fate would be.
Well now it seems it could very well fall into good hands.
The City of Humboldt has expressed interest in purchasing the 15 acre property and by all accounts, it seems it may only be a matter of time before the deal officially goes through. Should this happen, Span West Farms Ltd. is currently in negotiations with the City as the main developer for the property.
In a recent media release, the City said they were taking their "due diligence" regarding the purchase of the land
I sat down with Mayor Malcolm Eaton nearly a month ago, where he let me in on what exactly the City of Humboldt plans to do with the property, should the deal go through.
Currently, the water treatment plant and reservoir sits on the east side of the property, next to the community garden. Adjacent to the left of that is a giant, vacant lot where the hospital, constructed in 1955, once stood.
The park is next to it, with the old convent buildings, now vacant, on the west side.
So what to do with all this property?
For two and a half years, the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, who owned and maintained the property, tried to sell it to interested developers.
"They've been trying to get it off their hands for a long time now," said Eaton. "It just became too much for them," noting that most of the nuns have since moved to Saskatoon, with the few remaining in Humboldt now very old or living in nursing homes.
Developers came along, intrigued by the large plot of land, but it was the enormous servicing costs that kept them from making a deal.
Most of the offers consisted of razing the whole property in order to build roads and other infrastructure. But the problem with that, said Eaton, was that the water and sewage lines would not be able to flow south of that construction, into existing neighbourhoods: it'd have to go north.
And that, said Eaton, would have been very expensive to install and is what deterred developers from purchasing the property.
So the Sisters still had a giant lot on their hands and were beginning to wonder what would ever happen to it.
That's when they decided to contact the City to see if they had any interest in it.
Oh and they did.
"The nuns came to us because they were having trouble selling the property [due to servicing costs] so they wanted to know if we'd be interested," Eaton said. "Of course, we were."
After negotiations, round-table discussions and ideas put together at numerous meetings, the City decided they'd like to purchase the land, at a cost of $1 million from the Sisters.
The reservoir would stay, of course, but the purchase of land will allow the City to expand it ("something we greatly need to do").
In place of where the hospital once stood, new condominiums will be constructed, something that is keeping in trend with the new urban planning idea of building upwards, not outwards, in order to save on servicing costs. Plus, it's more housing for Humboldt, something Eaton said is a primary focus of the City for 2014.
The park however, will not only be retained forever, but in honour of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, who have over a century of history in health care in the city, it will be renamed after them.
"That was very important to us," said Eaton. "We knew we didn't want to build over the park and instead keep it as a legacy to the impact the Sisters have had on our community over the decades."
And what about that convent?
Now vacant, the historic building that runs along 12th Street at one time housed over 60 nuns.
"It's been sad to see the convent go," said Eaton. "It has such history to Humboldt; it's truly a beautiful, beautiful story."
Maybe it's Eaton's sentimentality, no doubt shared by many Humboldt citizens, that is keeping the City from demolishing the building.
"We're going to secure it for two years and maintain it, just like it is now, in hopes of finding a use for it," Eaton said, exploring the idea of possible senior housing to be developed within its walls.
"If after a couple of years, we still can't find a feasible use for it, then yes, we'll sadly have to tear it down."
If that happens, houses would be developed to coincide with the six lots that already sit across the street.
So how do the St. Elizabeth nuns feel about the City of Humboldt's ideas for the property?
"They're beyond happy with the concept," Eaton said. "And incredibly grateful that we've decided to keep the park and rename it in honour of them. That was something that was very important to the both of us."
If all the legalities and logistics of the purchase go through, it seems the lot will be modernized but a sliver of history kept, even if it's in the short-term.
Still, the enormity of the purchase isn't lost on Eaton.
"It really is the end of an era."
