City wants to cash in on its hot properties

Thespec.com
April 20, 2016
By Matthew Van Dongen

City council wants to cash in on Hamilton's real estate boom, too.

In the past few months, municipal politicians have pitched selling city-owned properties for social housing, building on underused city parking lots and even redeveloping part of the land around city hall.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger has called for a task force to evaluate all municipal real estate - 25,000 acres - with an eye to ensuring the city is "making the best use" of its taxpayer-owned land, particularly with a $1-billion LRT line coming down the track.

Coun. Sam Merulla wants a "majority priority" for that task force to be redevelopment of "underutilized" city hall lands - basically, pursuing the long-sought dream of a tower beside Hamilton's seat of local government.

"We're sitting on a significant potential development, so we should strike while the iron is hot," said Merulla, who will bring a motion to the general issues committee Wednesday.

Hamilton's residential real estate market is among the hottest in Canada, and a slew of condo and other housing developments are in planning stages around the waterfront and new GO station.

Merulla recalled the contentious debate from a decade ago about whether to renovate city hall or rebuild with a second tower to the south. The tower, estimated in 2005 dollars at $65 million plus $30 million in debt charges, was ultimately put off as too costly.

"At that time, economically, it was a pipe dream," Merulla said. "Now, with the recent renaissance, there is real (private sector) interest in this area. We should act thoroughly, but quickly to evaluate the potential we have here."

In 2005, the tower was envisioned as a way to bring together disparate groups of city workers leasing spaces across the city. But now, Merulla argued the city could meet some employee needs, but still provide a developer an opportunity to provide hotel, commercial or condo space.

Councillors were also given a confidential list of municipal parking lots Tuesday that could be built on or sold off.

The location of those parking pads aren't public yet, but downtown Coun. Jason Farr won support for a motion asking staff to report on a "disposition strategy" for the properties.

If the city opts to go ahead and sell the asphalt patches, or solicit private interest in redevelopment, community members will be asked to join "stakeholder advisory committees" to talk about the post-parking potential of the lands.

"I'm excited about it. This is a chance to take a sliver of the asphalt jungle and hopefully create new housing or new jobs," Farr said Tuesday.

Councillors also received a confidential update Tuesday on a parallel effort to negotiate with private developers interested in building a new parking garage downtown.