›› Lee Herrin
We have some bittersweet news to share with our neighbours. We have sold the Cornerstone Café to the good people from the Parsonage Café, who are losing their space on North Park. The Cornerstone Café is now closed, but the Parsonage crew hopes to reopen in Fernwood as early as February 1st.
It has been a great pleasure to serve the neighbourhood for the past twelve years. We owe so many thanks to all of the staff who have made the Cornerstone so welcoming—and who have served nearly a million coffees to Fernwoodians. We owe thanks to you, our neighbours and friends, who supported a unique neighbourhood business and brought the laughter and passion for which Fernwood is famous. And, we owe a tremendous thanks to the visionaries Roberta Martell (our former Executive Director) and Lenore Rankin (our company General Manager) for bringing the café into being, and especially to Lenore for shepherding it along these past dozen years.
In 2005, Fernwood Village was at its lowest point: businesses in the core were struggling and the Cornerstone Building was boarded-up and had been sitting empty for years. There were some signs of reinvestment—the Belfry had completed their heritage restoration, and Stevenson Park had been upgraded—but overall, the corner of Fernwood and Gladstone had seen better days. Someone needed to take a chance on what Fernwood could become.
And so, with enthusiastic support from the neighbourhood, Fernwood NRG bought the Cornerstone Building. The next question, though, was how to pay for it. As a board and as an organization, we knew we would need more income than what would initially flow from commercial rents and affordable family housing. Moreover, we knew that the neighbourhood needed a place to gather—to mend the social fabric that had frayed during the darker days of the village. But most importantly, we knew we needed a place to sit and simply have a coffee. And so we settled on the idea of a café on the corner—the Cornerstone Café—as the new foundation for our neighbourhood and our organization.
Flash forward twelve years, and Fernwood is thriving—there are shops and restaurants in the village that would have been hard to imagine 15 years ago. A new building is taking shape, and the old buildings are looking better than ever. Everything that we hoped and dreamt we would be able to achieve through the café has been accomplished.
When it became clear that the Parsonage was losing its space on North Park, the owners (who live in Fernwood!) approached us to discuss options. Eventually, we came to a mutually satisfactory agreement. It was a difficult decision for us to let go of the business. But the sale allows the Parsonage folks to continue serving Fernwood Coffee in Fernwood, and it allows Fernwood NRG to make new investments in Fernwood to meet emerging neighbourhood needs. When the paper on the windows comes down, please join us in welcoming and supporting our newest neighbours.
A note from the new owners
We are thrilled and grateful to be a continuing part of this amazing community. We want to thank Fernwood NRG for their incredible support and acknowledge how hard they worked to give us this opportunity.~ The staff and owners of the Parsonage Café
