{"id":259,"date":"2011-04-05T15:26:42","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T19:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steveroblin.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2023-11-28T16:23:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T21:23:53","slug":"100mforhamiltondowntown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveroblin.com\/100mforhamiltondowntown\/","title":{"rendered":"$100m for Hamilton Downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>$100m plan for downtown<\/strong>
\nSteve Arnold Tue Apr 05 2011
\nWork on a $100 million project that would change the skyline of downtown Hamilton is expected to start as early as June.
\nThe project, conceived by developer Darko Vranich, will bring 628 condo units, two extended stay hotels and 20,000 square feet of retail space to the core.
\n\u201cDarko is putting his money where his mouth is for this project,\u201d said downtown councillor Jason Farr. \u201cThis spring is what they are shooting for to get shovels in the ground.\u201d
\nFor the last decade Vranich has been quietly assembling land downtown and his Vrancor group now owns a large piece of the block bounded by Bay, Hess, King and Main streets. His plan calls for four buildings along George Street, starting with a 134-room extended stay hotel at the west end, adjacent to Hess Street.
\nThe sites slated for development include the former Hamilton Motor Products dealership property at Main and Bay.
\nStart dates for the other towers, which could run as high as 20 storeys, haven\u2019t been set yet.
\n\u201cEveryone is excited about this project,\u201d Farr said. \u201cIt is massive good news for the downtown.\u201d
\nVranich has been talking about some kind of development for the area since 2004 when he bought the former federal building at Caroline and Main streets, but as recently as last year he had said the work would be stalled indefinitely if the West Harbour stadium location didn\u2019t go ahead. That stadium site was seen as a key piece of core momentum.
\nNow, a spokesman for his company said a new \u201cdevelopment friendly\u201d attitude at city hall has made it the right time to move ahead.
\nIn an e-mail exchange, Vrancor chief financial officer Tyler McDiarmid said as long as the football stadium stays within the city, the project is viable, especially with the city\u2019s new attitude toward development.
\n\u201cWith the co-operation that we’ve received from City staff, the Mayor’s office and city council, who have demonstrated themselves to be forward thinking and development friendly, we feel it is the right time to move forward with this project,\u201d he wrote.
\nThe $100 million project has been conceived as a way of reviving a piece of the core and linking the restaurant-bar hub on Hess Village to the rest of downtown. The first building to be raised will house about 3,000 square feet of retail space designed to \u201ccompliment and enhance the feel of Hess Village,\u201d McDiarmid said.
\nWhile many developers have scorned the core of Hamilton, Vranich takes a different view.
\n\u201cThe downtown core is the heart of the city. We feel there is no other location that would support a development of this size,\u201d McDiarmid wrote. \u201cIn addition the city offers many incentives for downtown development that will help offset the $22 million cost of this hotel.\u201d
\nSteve Robichaud, manager of development planning at City Hall, said so far only \u201cconsultation\u201d documents have been filed with the city. Those papers start the process of circulating the plan for comment from various city departments on issues such as landscaping and urban design.
\n\u201cThese are the general, standard conditions we raise,\u201d Robichaud said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing extraordinary here.\u201d
\nRobichaud added it\u2019s possible Vranich could make his June start date if his company and consultants are \u201caggressive\u201d about meeting the city\u2019s conditions.
\nIn his e-mails, McDiarmid said consultation applications have been filed for all phases of the project and Vrancor is \u201cworking diligently with city staff\u201d to answer the comments that are already coming in. A formal site plan could be submitted as early as this week.
\nIn 2004 Vranich built a Staybridge hotel downtown in the former Canada Post garage on Market Street at Caroline, immediately behind the new Federal building. His later sold his share in the building and it was converted to a seniors\u2019 residence.
\nJust as the decision to convert the former hotel into seniors\u2019 apartments was a response to a perceived market need, McDiarmid said starting the new project with a hotel is Vrancor\u2019s response to a new market demand for more hotel rooms in the core.
\n\u201cThe former Staybridge \u2026 established that there is a strong market for that brand in Hamilton, which is in need of extended stay accommodations,\u201d McDiarmid wrote. \u201cAccordingly we feel it has the greatest economic potential and thus is the most logical place to start.\u201d
\nThat view coincides with what city tourism officials have long been saying \u2013 Hamilton\u2019s efforts to attract visitors and conventions are being hampered by a lack of hotel rooms in the core.
\nThe first phase of the project is expected to be completed by June 2012. Completion of the other buildings will depend on \u201cdesign and planning considerations yet to be finalized\u201d with city staff.
\nChief among those issues is the fate of the former federal building at Caroline and Main, including the eight pieces of art work on its front created by Hamilton artist Elizabeth Holbrooke. Vranich currently has a consultant working out how to detach those reliefs from the building, after which he plans to give them to the city for display.
\nHe\u2019s also talking to Ottawa about its contention the 2004 sales agreement for the building prohibits it being torn down \u2013 Vranich has a demolition permit from Hamilton to do just that to make way for a 229 unit condo-retail project.
\nFinancing for the project is also still to be worked out.
\nsarnold@thespec.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$100m plan for downtown Steve Arnold Tue Apr 05 2011 Work on a $100 million project that would change the skyline of downtown Hamilton is expected to start as early as June. The project, conceived by developer Darko Vranich, will bring 628 condo units, two extended stay hotels and 20,000 square feet of retail space […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n$100m for Hamilton Downtown - Steve Roblin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/steveroblin.com\/100mforhamiltondowntown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$100m for Hamilton Downtown - Steve Roblin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"$100m plan for downtown Steve Arnold Tue Apr 05 2011 Work on a $100 million project that would change the skyline of downtown Hamilton is expected to start as early as June. 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