Some big ideas are popping up at former east end Target
A market and indoor cycling help usher in a new era for Barton Street space
Remember when Target blew into Hamilton with a lot of bluster, then limped out of town two years later?
They opened seven stores between Hamilton and Burlington, but underwhelmed shoppers stayed away in droves.
At the Centre on Barton, the vast and empty Target store sits as a forlorn landmark, but that’s about to change. A group with big ideas is inviting Hamiltonians to pop in and visit some creative new pop-ups.
Imagine an event devoted to music synthesizers and projection mapping, another to indoor cycling, and a night market taking over the old Target store. These pop-ups are on the books, with more to follow as the Right on Target project launches this week.
“It’s really exciting, the Target space; the former Centre Mall has a real relationship with the community, and now this space is inviting us back,” says Fatima Mesquita, a member of the planning team for the Crown Point community whose neighbourhood spans Gage to Kenilworth avenues north, from the escarpment to Burlington Street East.
Mesquita is the local point person for the Right on Target project, but the idea started when Centre on Barton property management company Triovest went looking for ways to bring the 50,000 square foot space to life. They brought Scadding Court Community Centre on board. The Toronto based SCCC spearheaded a Shipping Container Market in Toronto, and helps underfunded entrepreneurs with their Business out of a Box program.
“The pop-ups will be a way to engage the community, to generate more ideas, to see new ways the space can come to life,” says Lyna Saad of Scadding Court, a former community developer with Crown Point.
This Thursday, there will be two “visioning” sessions in the former Target building — from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Everyone is invited and all ideas are welcome.
“People suggest the space for sports, but there are lots of pillars
and low ceilings, so that’s a limitation,” Mesquita says.
Like so many such projects, there’s no budget and a deep need for volunteers to keep it going. Right on Target will need to find a way to make money and build partnerships, according to Mesquita.
“It’s a great space to rent,” she says. “It’s air-conditioned and there are washrooms.”
At this stage, the ideas are flowing and the mantra is “be bold.”
The city planning department is on side, according to Mesquita, as is Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla.
“The pop-up concept is yet another layer of continued renewal in sync with an ever changing successful and progressive east Hamilton,” he says. “It’s no longer your grandfather’s East End.”
Merulla says Triovest has met
with the city and has plans to make the Centre on Barton more pedestrianand cycle-friendly. “They are reaching out to make a community connection.”
As work continues for the visioning sessions and the first pop-up on June 22 (synthesizers and projection), there’s talk that the Target space could be a new type of hub for Crown Point.
“There used to be a walking club at the Centre Mall. People remember it fondly,” Mesquita says. “In some ways we need to tap into the energy of nostalgia, but what we are trying to do is to find the future.”
For more information, visit the Right-On-Target Facebook Page.