Prescott selling Forwarders’ Museum site

The Forwarders' Museum on Water Street in Prescott, Ont. The town is selling the building after declaring it surplus to the municipal during a special council meeting on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. (Town of Prescott via Newswatch Group)

PRESCOTT – The town plans to sell the building known locally as the Forwarders’ Museum.

Town council declared the property surplus during a special council meeting Monday night. It was during a closed session where council discussed proposed purchase or sale of land.

In a public notice Thursday, the corporation says it’s “received an unsolicited offer” to buy the rubble stone building covered in stucco at 201 Water Street.

If the building, which is a heritage property under the Ontario Heritage Act, changes hands, the heritage designation will remain on the property.

Council received a structural report last year for the building which suggested there were some pricey repairs needed – in the order of $250,000 to $300,000 – at the low end of the scale.

The Forwarders’ Museum, built in the late 1820s by Prescott’s first forwarder William Gilkison, was a post office and customs house. It’s now the museum and tourism information center.

The Town of Prescott is accepting public comment on the proposed sale until Aug. 24.