On Monday, December 2, Windsor mayor Eddie Francis announced that the City of Windsor will make available to the University of Windsor the Paul Martin Sr. building, plus $15 million, to help move the Faculty of Law downtown.
The announcement is in addition to the $10 million gift the city gave to UWindsor, along with the Armouries and Bus Depot buildings, to relocate the School for Arts and Creative Innovation and the film production program downtown.
UWindsor president Alan Wildeman said this latest commitment from the city now makes real the possibility of a new home that will meet the future needs of the law school.
“We will now begin efforts to see if we can successfully leverage the city’s commitment to secure the full funding required,” Dr. Wildeman said. “The Paul Martin building as a location would provide a continuity for our downtown campus, spanning the Windsor Star location to the Armouries, and enable us to centralize the education and community programs of our law school. We are very thankful to the city for its on-going support.”
The Paul Martin Sr. building is a low-rise, five-storey office building located on the west side of Ouellette Avenue between Chatham and Pitt streets, in the heart of the downtown core.
One block west of this building on Pitt Street will be the new home of the School of Social Work and the Centre for Executive and Professional Education in the building that formerly housed the Windsor Star. The development of that property is underway with the current removal of the original structure except for the historical façade, which will eventually front a completely new building. This building is expected to be open for classes in the spring of 2015.
“This announcement provides a unique possibility to move our law school to the heart of the city to improve access to the legal profession and to the community, and it is a possibility we can now pursue,” said Wildeman.
There are currently approximately 750 students, faculty and staff in the Faculty of Law. An estimated 1,300 will be located in the University’s other downtown facilities already under development.