After sitting vacant for nearly 30 years, the former Holmes Foundry property at 200 Exmouth St. is officially listed for sale.
Described as "the crown jewel of development sites in the Sarnia area" the 16 acre site has direct frontage on Hwy. 402, book-ended by Christina St. and Front St.
Real Estate Broker Lou Longo says the property has an asking price of $7-million and is commercially zoned, permitting a wide range of commercial uses, including retail and hotels or motels.
Ownership of the site had been the subject of a lengthy legal battle.
Chrysler closed the former engine block manufacturing site in 1988 and spent $7-million cleaning up the land before selling it in 1989 to the D’Andrea Group, comprised of real estate developer John D’Andrea and a group of about 20 relatives and friends.
Ten years later, the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation purchased the property from D’Andrea, hoping to build a casino there.
In 2002, D’Andrea was convicted of fraud in connection with that sale and the D’Andrea Group’s shareholders began civil action to recover his 50% share in the numbered company that now owns the site.
Last November, Blackburn News Sarnia learned that the Chippewas of the Thames, John D’Andrea, and the D’Andrea group had reached an out-of-court agreement, negating the need for a trial in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
When the site was cleared in 1989, the soils were declared free of environmental contaminants.
- With files from Lee Michaels