Just a week ago on Sept. 26th, a press release from School District 67 (Okanagan Skaha) announced the district’s board had “approved the restoration of Shatford Centre, a historic building located at 760 Main St.”
And for the first time since it was such a prolific newsmaker in the late 2010s, Shatford was back in the public eye. But is a full-on restoration of this huge and picturesque yet aged building really a done deal? And is it smart?
Astute readers will remember that the celebrated Shatford Centre, constructed not long after World War I and living much of its life as part of the local school system, was a favourite subject of local media in the years leading up to the pandemic. Hardly a month would go by without some new Shatford development, the majority of which were focused on the troubled existence of its tenants.
It wasn’t the media’s fault. It was the seemingly non-stop barrage of mixed messages from the entities that surrounded Shatford and worked in it and owned it.
The most important of all those entities was the Okanagan School of the Arts. Founded in 1960 and becoming Shatford’s primary tenant many years later in 2011, the organization spoke often of a happy future where Shatford would be a Penticton hub.
It alternately forecasted it would be the city’s “arts hub,” its “innovation hub” and finally in 2019 when three young technology startups moved into the upper floor, its “tech hub” too.
For several years, the OSA and Shatford seemingly had lived harmoniously with one another, the former staging events that kept the latter fresh and vivacious. Unfortunately, uncertainty took the place of promise as the decade wore on. And it all, apparently, had to do with money.
The OSA, even with fundraisers, several highly public meetings, a whole lot of press, at least one city grant in 2019 to the tune of $47,000 (it had asked for $120,000) and the help of other tenants/subtenants, was having a hard time paying the landlord (School District 67) and covering the cost of utilities, maintenance and upgrades in a yawning structure that had a number of pressing old-age issues.
Depending on who you talked to, those issues ranged from HVAC to the windows to the plumbing to the roof to insulation to the floor, to the presence of asbestos, and more.
PentictonNow wrote extensively at the time about the situation. Examples can be found here and here and here.
In any event, Shatford never did become the hub the OSA wanted it to be. And by early 2020, even before the pandemic splashed ashore, the building was emptier than ever and the OSA’s time was running out.
By the time the lease was up in June, COVID was in control and the OSA was gone. Simply, not enough businesses wanted to call Shatford home, and those that did couldn’t cover all the bills. And no more deals could be struck.
At least those were the reasons offered at the time, by both sides.
And for the three-plus years since then, Shatford has remained empty. And quiet.
Until last week, when SD67 issued its four-paragraph press release that we found both intriguing and a little confusing.
It opens by saying the school district board “approved the restoration of the Shatford Centre,” which, if taken at face value, means the entirety of the restoration has already been okayed.
But later it indicates that a “long term facility plan” will include decisions on the future use of the building and in turn the remaining phases of the restoration. That’s far more guarded.
In between, it says Shatford can’t currently support occupancy until its “life safety systems” are upgraded and adds that the upgrade, along with an “abatement of hazardous materials” will be completed next spring.
It ends by saying, “Undertaking the restoration project will allow the building to once again be used by the school district and the community,” which literally means that if the process is undertaken, the school district and the community will get to use it again.
Not only did we want clarity on the above, we also wanted to ask why the school district believes things will be different this time around.
So we chatted with James Palanio, the current chair of SD67 and the chair when Shatford emptied in June of 2020.
We started by asking why occupancy ended when it did and why it hasn't been restored since.
James Palanio: My recollection is that on a walk-through by the Penticton Fire Department, they noticed it (the fire suppression system) needed updating, and the OSA didn't have the funds to repair. And we were told you can’t have occupancy until you reach a certain criteria.
And then of course the pandemic happened and there were different priorities. Now we’re back at a point where we’re able to allocate some money over there to get occupancy. So we’ll start the process of trying to get it occupied again.
PentictonNow: But why is Shatford being saved given past issues? Why not raze it and replace it with new structures with greater capabilities and more modern amenities?
Palanio: If you look over the years, I think you see a lot of the community wants the building. I think there’s significant interest in the city to keep it the way it is. The previous mayor was on record saying he’d chain himself to the doors to save it.
It’s really a beautiful building, but it needs some upgrading. So the school district has allocated some money so we can make it safe to occupy with the hopes that there is money available, perhaps from grants from ministries, so we can get that building utilized again because it’s quite a gem for the city.
PentictonNow: You say there’s significant city interest, but there must be significant interest from SD67 too.
Palanio: Yes, we’re future focused, thinking there could be opportunities for groups in the community. The OSA was in there and there have been other phone calls to the district from people wondering if there are opportunities to utilize it.
PentictonNow: So what type of businesses/concerns do you believe will end up in there?
Palanio: I don’t know. We have had interest from other non-profits. In there, you could grab two or three rooms or one room, so it’s nice because these groups can use what they need as they grow. But there has been interest. And because of that we want to do what we can to help out.
PentictonNow: Are you hearing from for-profit businesses as well?
Palanio: The short answer is no.
PentictonNow: Isn’t that worrisome?
Palanio: It’s nice to get as much interest as you can, for sure. I could flip it and say we do have interest and can accommodate some of that interest. But it’s a unique building and there are probably some businesses that will do better in there than others.
PentictonNow: Does the school district plan to set up a school or classes in Shatford?
Palanio: We have no plans yet. We want to get it occupiable and look at the opportunities. There’s a pretty nice looking kitchen facility (1200 square feet, built in the 2010s) in there. There’s the room where the library was that was original gymnasium. So there are opportunities to utilize some of that space. How much I don’t know.
PentictonNow: What are the biggest mitigation/renovation hurdles going forward? And what are the “life safety systems” you highlight in your Sept. 26 press release?
Palanio: The life safety systems are basically the fire suppression system. So that’s what needs to be updated – the sprinkler system.
Beyond that, it’s over a hundred years old and it’s been updated many times. So we don’t know exactly what’s in there. But we do know there’s some asbestos, so we have to do some abatement.
PentictonNow: One of the big complaints we heard from tenants in 2019 was the difficulty in keeping the place warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Can you comment?
Palanio: There’s a boiler system in there that from our understanding needs work. Can it be refurbished? Can it be made to work again, if it didn’t work? I don’t know.
But it's same with the windows. They’re antiques as well. And we’ve been told the roof needs looking at too. This is stuff we know about but have done no costing yet. We just got the ball rolling and will keep looking as we go forward.
PentictonNow: Have you roughed out a worst case scenario where it turns out everything you figured may need repair or replacement ultimately does?
Palanio: We know there’ll be dollars needed to keep going on this. That’s why we have no time frame. As monies may become available we’ll work toward this and hopefully we’ll get funds from the ministry or from other grants. The heritage status of the building might be helpful as well.
PentictonNow: When will the first tenant arrive?
Palanio: No idea, yet. All we know is that we’re hoping to have some of this abatement done in the very near future -- at some point in the next calendar year. But you don’t really know until someone gets in there.
PentictonNow: Will city taxes help pay for any of this?
Palanio: I don’t know. That’s not been talked about. That’s a question to ask our mayor, if they’ll be helping in the process at all.
(Note: PentictonNow asked City of Penticton representative Anthony Haddad if the City had any interest in raising funds through taxes to help SD67 restore Shatford. “We do not have any plans, the land is provincially owned under SD67,” was his response.)
PentictonNow: Could the plan to restore Shatford Centre be scrapped if projected costs grow too large?
Palanio: That would be a tough discussion with the board. Once we have all the numbers, at some point, do you keep putting money into it? That should always be a question. You can’t just blindly go on forever.
But I think it’s a good thing that we’re trying to get this building occupied again. I'm excited, and I think the community will appreciate it. It’s just we don’t know any timelines at the point. And we don’t know the dollars.
After chatting with James Palanio, we reached out to the Okanagan School of the Arts, now a volunteer-run organization based out of co-working space Cowork Penticton. These days the OSA is quite different than it once was, now focusing on running "Showtime! Musical Theatre," an adult musical theatre group that produces twice-yearly shows at the Many Hats stage.
The OSA didn’t have a lot to say. But what it did say was upbeat. And hopeful.
According to OSA Treasurer Kim Palmer, “The board of the Okanagan School of the Arts is pleased to see SD67 investing in the Shatford Centre, and we look forward to a future when this beautiful heritage building is back in use and available as a community asset.”
We'll undoubtedly have more on the apparent re-awakening of storied Shatford Centre in the months ahead. Stay tuned.
