Vacated Land Registry building could be used as a municipal satellite office

Posted Jan 12, 2012 By Bill Hutchins

EMC News - A long-time municipal tenant has packed up and moved.

The Land Registry Office at 1 Court Street beside the Frontenac County Court House has been mothballed since late last year after the provincial office decided to relocate its services into another office building uptown at 1201 Division Street in the Kingslake Plaza.

The loss of a tenant will cost the city about $50,000 a year in lease revenues.

While the city has no immediate plans to lease the historic limestone building, which dates back to the 1870s, it may not be vacant for long.

City officials are actively looking at moving some of their own administrative offices into the low-rise building.

"We will be looking at whether it's suitable for municipal purposes," said properties commissioner Denis Leger.

The City of Kingston acquired the Court House and its adjacent Land Registry Office from Frontenac County during the 1998 amalgamation. Both had been leased by the Ontario Attorney General's ministry.

The ministry continues to lease the Court House for daily judicial functions, but the Land Registry Office apparently fell victim to technology. With more land titles and directory searches available on-line, it's believed that the level of walk-in customers was dwindling and a smaller office can handle the demand.

Leger informed council of the vacancy during the recent budget talks, and he says his department is now deciding whether it can be used for municipal offices.

"There are some configuration issues that we are still sorting out. It is a heritage building," he noted.

The city will not collect any rent money if it moves into the building, but Leger says there are some cost-recovery opportunities. He would not elaborate on what the potential income sources may be.

Councillors purchased the British-Whig building for $10.2 million last year for future office growth, and they've approved expansions for satellite municipal offices at the Utilities Kingston building on John Counter Boulevard and the Public Works building on Division Street.

Leger says the Land Registry Office will not be sold. He says it will remain under city ownership whether municipal staff moves into it or not.

The city plans to invest $1.1 million to upgrade the Land Registry Office this year, while the Court House has undergone hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs in recent years.

Kingston currently rents out dozens of properties it owns for a variety of private business and non-profit uses.