Last September, the derelict state of the Veldman family’s pulp tower/paper mill building on the old St. Mary’s Paper Site had no harsher critics than Matthew Shoemaker.
“I know there were multiple fires at the Pulp Tower,” said the then-Third Ward Councilor in response to proposals from Justus, Paul, and John Veldman to build a Pulp Tower. $300 million battery storage facility Part of the former paper mill site.
However, the neglected building and its owner became an election issue, and Shoemaker pressed Veldmann to clean up their act.
“Personally, my support will come after progress has been made, not before,” warned Shoemaker.
Since then, there have been local elections and county councils. Shoemaker is now Mayor of Shoemaker. This is a major stumbling block for the development proposals that the Veldmans are trying to advance.
On Friday, January 13, Shoemaker toured the Pulp Tower and Paperboard Mill with Mr. and Mrs. Berdmann and declared that he was satisfied with what he had seen.
“When I went there,” said Shoemaker sue today, “It was very clear that they had done some internal repairs.”
“There was no debris anywhere. There was no sign of intrusion by people trying to break in.”
“They were securing the place from the outside. The lights were on momentarily.”
“You can walk there.
“But other than that, it appeared to be in very good shape from a structural point of view.”
“I’m no structural engineer, but the interior looked like a solid old building,” the mayor said.
“They gave me some hope. I still think something needs to happen there.”
“It’s nice to have the interior repaired,” Shoemaker told the Weldmanns.
“But we need a real plan for the actual use of this building, whatever its end use.”
“We want the entire site deactivated, and we don’t want to see an empty building on top of it.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, January 18, the mayor met with principals of Markham-based SM International Holdings, which bought Station Mall for $30 million last summer.
“The talk was about … what opportunities they were looking for, what they thought were opportunities for improving the station mall,” Shoemaker said.
“In my opinion, it very much showed their commitment to do something in this space.”
“My understanding is that their current intention is to fill in smaller types of attractions: retail, food service, and that sort of thing.”
“It’s a version of the last few years with fewer vacant houses,” the mayor said. Suit Today.
“I don’t know how much they want to disclose, but what I can say is that they have ideas about what to put in the space, and they’re executing those ideas beyond those familiar with the community. Including myself.”
“I wasn’t the only one in the meeting they had. That’s for sure, but they wanted to get feedback on what works here.”
“I’ll just say it’s a positive relationship — a really good one.”
“The company that owns it demonstrates genuine intent and commitment to investing in the community.”
“I think this place will be a better place than it has been for the last five to seven months, at least.”
“I think we’ll see a different type of station mall,” the mayor said.
Are they considering new construction?
“I think it’s just typical mall-type construction. Interior reorganization as opposed to anything more, but I’m not sure.”
“I understand the intention is to fill an existing space,” the mayor said.
