Sarnia’s iconic MacLean Centre coming down

Cathy Dobson Photos Workers with Murray Demolition spent Saturday tearing down the MacLean Centre in Sarnia’s Centennial Park.

Cathy Dobson Photos

Workers with Murray Demolition spent Saturday tearing down the MacLean Centre in Sarnia’s Centennial Park.

The former restaurant and meeting hall was being razed down to its concrete support pad by the company at no cost to taxpayers, in recognition of Sarnia’s efforts to redevelop the site as a legacy project.

The MacLean building has been empty since March of 2011 when the city declined to renew the lease of the former Momma Rosa’s restaurant after 12 years of operation.

A 2007 engineering report estimated it would cost $400,000 to winterize and repair the centre.

The building, with its circular design, was built in the late 1960s and was a gathering place for children’s groups, political debates, dance recitals and art shows.

A Centennial legacy project planned for the site, featuring a community centre with an iconic fabric sail roof, family gathering fireplace and synthetic ice pad, was shelved last year because of its $3.7-million price tag and the park’s soil contamination.

A washroom in the Dow People place will be converted as a substitute for the MacLean Centre washrooms, city staff have said.