HOMETOWN NEWS, by Heddy Sorour

With Algonquin College set to shutter its Perth campus, a prominent local resident is stepping up with an ambitious plan to turn the site into a world-class private institution for heritage restoration and skilled trades training.

Toby Shannan, former chief operating officer at Shopify, told Lanark County council on June 11 that he wants to acquire the property and transform it into a not-for-profit college focused on Heritage Trades, offering programs up to a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management.

“The simple proposal is, I would like Algonquin College to keep the campus in town and I think the way to do it is to give it to a not-for-profit that I will set up,” Shannan said.

Shannan envisions a governance structure of leaders from construction, academia, and local government.

“We’ll build a governance structure that includes people from the construction industry, local community government, and academics to run the college as designed,” he said.

However, acquiring the property won’t be simple. As a publicly-funded asset, it must first be offered to other government bodies.

“He as an individual would be very low on the bottom for the availability of this building because it has to be offered to other levels of government and institutions first,” said County Warden Toby Randall (mayor of Carleton Place). “So, things are going to have to align pretty well for this to happen.”

Shannan said he’s prepared to purchase the property at market value — estimated between $10 and $15 million — and has already begun discussions with the province.

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