The Markdale Centre Grey Hospital, as shown in 2020.
A community group looking to purchase the old Markdale hospital is continuing its quest to acquire the property in order to turn it into affordable housing.
Affordable Housing in Grey Highlands, also known as AHIGH, has submitted another bid to purchase the former Centre Grey General Hospital.
AHIGH President Reid Dennison explained to Bayshore News that although the group’s original offer fell through, they’re still looking to acquire the property.
“It was the second in our series of public meetings, and we’re planning up to four more to acquaint the community with what we’re doing and planning to do, and our progress.”
The old Markdale hospital was listed for sale after the opening of the town’s new hospital in 2023.
“The thing that caused us to revise our offer to Brightshores was [that] we’ve had to spend some money on a phase 1 environmental study, so we did that. An environmental study by an Owen Sound firm, GEI, turned up some concerns about the property,” said Dennison. “Some of them were things that you wouldn’t find too surprising, such as the in the creation of the parking lot, one never knows what was used in the fill for the parking lot, but that’s kind of a normal thing [that’s] not a red flag. One of the three things that was turned up was the fact that there had been an oil spill in the vicinity of the neck for the heating oil tank. And quite a lot, several hundred litres of fuel went missing, so to speak.”
According to an archived news article provided to Bayshore News from the Markdale Standard, dated January 19, 2005, shared that there was in fact a furnace oil leak on the hospital grounds.
The article states that the hospital’s then-40-year-old oil tank was filled on December 16, 2004, and the leak was discovered on December 25.
At the time of publication, the news item shared that the leak was in the process of being cleaned up by Rubicon Environmental, and that fumes from the oil leak had forced the temporary closure of two of the hospital’s emergency department rooms.
It was estimated at that time, between 90 and 100 gallons (340-378 litres) from the 200-gallon (758-litre) had leaked into the stone around the tank, and into the hospital’s sump pump. The news article finished by stating that the cleanup at the site was expected to take four to eight months to complete.
Brightshores responded in an email to Bayshore News, saying that there are no current environmental concerns with the property. “In 2004, a tank used by the hospital released approximately 150 gallons (682 litres) of oil, roughly the volume of three bathtubs. The cleanup was conducted responsibly and with involvement from the Ministry of the Environment. No issues have been identified since the remediation was completed.”
AHIGH’s initial offer was below the asking price, as they had calculated the projected cost of demolishing the building in addition to putting something new on the property that could be used for housing.
On April 10, 2026, a statement was posted on Brightshores’ official website, on behalf of Lisa Pires, the Vice President of Finance and Development and Chief Financial Officer: “We remain committed to selling the former Markdale Hospital property on Isla Street ‘as is’. Proceeds will be directed toward critical health infrastructure to strengthen care for the communities we serve… Real estate transactions are subject to change, and unfortunately a recent agreement was unable to move forward. Our financial planning for the current fiscal year, which began April 1, includes proceeds from the sale of this property at the listed ‘as is’ price.”
“There was no mention of it being an as-is situation. I don’t know what happened between the publicity for the sale, announcing that they were going to be disposing of the property, and the actual negotiations, the actual agreement they struck with us, it wasn’t an ‘as is’ agreement,” explained Dennison. “We negotiated them enough over the course of a couple of months – January, February, March… to extend some deadlines, the due diligence deadline, so we could understand this better. And they had not been able to find the paperwork they had done around the remediation of this spill. We know they did spend money, and that a firm was hired, and we know that the firm did some work.”
Following a community meeting regarding AHIGH’s purchase of the property, they had told the residents who had attended that they intended to put forward a new offer.
Another offer had come forward for the Centre Grey General Hospital from another prospective buyer, but AHIGH feels that the other party looking to buy the property is unaware of the history with the oil leak.
Dennison had also said in his phone conversation with Bayshore News that AHIGH has been in contact with members of the municipal government, and has also reached out to MPP Paul Vickers for additional help with negotiations.
The Markdale Centre Grey General Hospital, as shown in June 2024 (Image via Google Streetview)
A news article from the Markdale Standard about the oil leak at the Centre Grey General Hospital, published on January 19, 2004. (Image provided by Affordable Housing in Grey Highlands)