Massive renewal project under way downtown

A much anticipated multimillion-dollar development project in Hamilton’s core is under way.

The first of four new buildings that will bring as many as 600 condo units, two hotels and 20,000 square feet of retail space to the core has been rising on George Street near Caroline since the summer, bringing a swell of hope for the core with each new floor.

The brain child of developer Darko Vranich, the $125-million project has been on the drawing boards for the past decade as he slowly assembled a huge chunk of the city’s core.

“You can’t help but notice there are construction cranes on the skyline downtown now,” said Jason Farr, the city councillor for the core. “Darko has a sincere desire to get going faster than anyone realized. He didn’t want to wait any longer, he wanted to get going.”

Over the past decade, Vranich has acquired most of the land roughly bounded by King, Main, Bay and Hess streets with tiny George Street running through the centre. The plan calls for two extended-stay hotels — the 129-room Staybridge under construction at the northwest corner of George and Caroline streets and a 182-room Homewood Suites inn at the southwest corner of George and Bay streets.

The plan also includes three condo towers in two buildings reaching as high as 20 storeys.

The buildings are to be completed in five phases over the next six or seven years. The entire project is seen as a way of linking the restaurant-bar hub of Hess Village to the rest of downtown.

Two of those condo towers will rise on the site of the former federal government office building at the north-east corner of Main and Caroline streets. Vranich bought the structure in 2004 and started demolishing it in August.

The plan to demolish that building sparked a brief controversy over the fate of eight friezes surrounding the main entrance of the structure. They were created by noted local artist Elizabeth Holbrook and the chance they would be destroyed ignited protests from the local arts community. Vranich eventually agreed to have the art work detached from the building and donated to the city. Later he unveiled a plan to preserve the seven-storey west portion of the building, including the main entrance, as the base for an additional three storeys of condos. An attached east tower will be up to 15-storeys tall.