After a 5-year pursuit of the site at 160 Rivalda Rd., association learns it’s off the table.

Just south of where Finch Avenue West meets Weston Road sits a large beige building at the end of an industrial road.

Its windows are dusty, the brick veneer is discoloured, and you can easily tell it’s more than 60 years old. Despite its imperfections, it is the perfect home for a new community hub, according to the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario.

“It would be more or less like a resource centre, serving a bigger purpose … for the bigger community,” said Albert Aikins-Mensah, a member of the association.

But the group learned last week the site at 160 Rivalda Rd. in North York was snapped up by the city in mid-April, and was to be converted into a cleaning centre for personal protective equipment to help fight COVID-19.

The association, which represents the thousands of people who’ve come from the west African country of Ghana to live in Ontario, expressed interest in the site as far back as 2015 and claims since then it’s followed all the city’s directions to try to acquire the space.

“For the last five years they’ve been leading us on — [saying] that if we’re able to meet these requirements that we would be able to get this place,” said Maud Cole Tutu, an association member who has been working with the city throughout the process.

The city and the local councillor’s office said they’re both willing to work with the group to help find another space but it’s unclear what the new options might be.

‘We were waiting, towing the line’

Emails shared with CBC Toronto show that in 2015, the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario contacted then-councillor Giorgio Mammoliti to express interest in the city-owned building, once home to the Marcus Garvey Centre for Leadership and Education.

Association officials eventually toured the facility and continued a correspondence with city officials.

“We realized that our population is based here. So this place is going to be very appropriate for us,” said Tutu.

The group was informed that the city had to first determine if there was municipal interest in the property, and that there may be competition.

“So we were waiting, towing the line, and doing all the stuff that they told us to do.”

The correspondence continued and in 2018, when Anthony Perruzza took over as councillor for the newly drawn ward of Ward 7, Humber River-Black Creek, the association once again expressed interest in moving forward.

“We came in, we inspected [the building]  again. They came in with a real estate coordinator who told us what to do with zoning. We did all that,” said Tutu, who added the group submitted its business plan to Peruzza’s office a few weeks ago.

Last week, the association received a letter from Perruzza’s office telling them that the city’s Corporate Real Estate Management Division determined that the site was to be used by Toronto Emergency Services in the fight against COVID-19.

“We are all disappointed that this is going to be taken out of our hands, when we have done so much,” said Tutu.

Perruzza said he too was unaware of the city’s plans for the property, and that his office was aware of the association’s wish to move forward with acquiring the site.