After two years on the market, the historic former Chatham jail and courthouse has found a new owner.
Carson Warrener, an agent with Royal Lepage Peifer Realty, announced on Facebook last week that the 30,000-square-foot property had sold to an unnamed buyer.
The 170-year-old building on Stanley Avenue housed lawbreakers until the jail officially closed in 2014. Court services were conducted at the facility until they were moved to the current Grand Avenue West location in 2003.
Initially priced at over $2.1 million in 2021, the property’s listing price at the time of sale was $1,349,000. Warrener said the final sale price will not be disclosed and remains confidential.
While Warrener is unable to reveal the identity of the buyer, he said their intentions for the property are sympathetic to its long history in Chatham.
“We’re passing the torch to an excellent candidate and I can comment that their intention is to be able to curate the building in a way to allow everyone to enjoy its history for years, which is what we wanted to see,” said Warrener. “The buyer has the means to do it and the experience to do it so it should be good for everybody.”
Warrener’s family company, Warrener Properties, purchased the facility back in 2018 with plans to convert the existing building into student housing. However, due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, that became unfeasible and the property was relisted for sale in 2021.
“Unfortunately with the onset of some pretty restrictive government regulations, it completely killed that conversation and it really slammed us back to the drawing board,” said Warrener. “Right in the middle of COVID, there was no way to pivot so we said, you know what, maybe it’s not meant to be for us.”
Considering themselves the custodians of Stanley Avenue property, Warrener said he and his family wanted what was best for the building, as well as the community.
“We’re always very happy when we find that right person that we know and can absolutely trust [and] that it’ll be done correctly. So we’re excited to see it go to the next phase,” he said.
