Chatham Jail officially closed July 4, 2014. (Photo by Maureen Revait) Chatham Jail officially closed July 4, 2014. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Chatham

Old CK jail heading towards transformation as tours end

The last chance to visit Chatham's old jail has come and gone.

For roughly the past two months, people have been able to take a tour of the historic building before its transformation into apartments. It officially closed in the summer of 2014.

According to Les Lonsbary, who owns the property along with Ed McLaughlin, just under 1,000 people came out.

"I'm glad everyone who [took the tour] got through as there will be a day when it will no longer exist as the jail," he said.

Among those who took the tour were former jail employees. There was also a special tour done for a family of a previous employee who had passed away.

"They had a little family get together and did a tour of where their father, grandfather worked," added Lonsbary.

Now that the tours are over, the focus now turns to the new apartments planned for the building. Lonsbary explained they're meeting with the project's architect on Tuesday to discuss the layout of the building.

There's currently no firm timeline on when construction would start as the project still needs to go through the municipality, though Lonsbary isn't concerned.

"They're excited to get the building repurposed and used for something other than just sitting there taking up space," he said.

Construction is expected to get underway sometime in 2025 with hopes of starting during the summer. The apartments aren't expected to be ready for at least two years after that.

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