Simcoe Reformer, Friday, June 9, 2017
Some properties are so attractive that you buy first and ask questions later.
That’s the position Ron Hart, of Port Dover, is in now that he is the new owner of the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses next to the Port Dover Cemetery.
Hart retired to Port Dover from Binbrook two years ago. He’s been around long enough to know that two-acre properties in the countryside with a well-maintained building in an attractive setting aren’t that common.
“It’s gone to a good home and the owner doesn’t know what he’s going to do with it yet,” Hart said last week. “It’s a beautiful piece of property.”
Documents obtained from the Norfolk land registry office in Simcoe say Hart purchased the property from “Trustees for the Port Dover congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses” for $290,000. The transaction was registered April 13.
When the property went on the block last October, the asking price was $349,000.
The property is located on Blue Line Road between Highway 6 and St. John’s Road East. The building was constructed as a school house with a floor area of about 2,500 square feet.
Jehovah’s Witnesses began worshipping at the hall in 1980.
The congregation once boasted 80 members but this dwindled to 20 or so in recent years. A decision was made to sell the property and disperse the remaining members to congregations in Simcoe, Waterford and Hagersville.
As a property with institutional zoning, the former Kingdom Hall has many potential uses. The 26 listed uses include residential, veterinary clinic, cemetery, crematorium, day-care centre, place of worship and private club.
The property has parking for 26 vehicles. For taxation purposes, its assessed value is in the range of $260,000.
http://www.simcoereformer.ca/2017/06/09/former-kingdom-hall-near-port-dover-has-new-owner
