City of Greater Sudbury sells Kingsway Hotel property

One of Sudbury's most prominent vacant lots has a new owner.

The city has sold the former site of the Kingsway Hotel to John Hicks for $477,000.

Hicks could not be reached for comment, buthe is trying to buy another piece of city-owned land in the area.

A staff report on that proposal saidtheempty lot off Kitchener Avenue would be a parking lot to go with the new development on the formerhotel property.

Sudbury city councillors will vote on the proposalat next week's planning committee meeting.

Last year the city took the unusual step of taking over the old Kingsway Hotel property. The buildinghad been boarded up and abandoned since 2009.

FormerMayor Marianne Matichukpromised that the city would turn a profit by selling the land once the building was gone.

It cost the city $118,500to knock down the hotel, but the bill for removing the contaminated soil isn't yet known.