Another Gore treasure gets a new lease on life
Building that housed Chester’s will be developed by former industrialist
Patrick Bermingham is known for many things, but buying former downtown watering holes is not one of them.
Bermingham, 58, comes from one of the city’s most successful industrialist families. He’s an accomplished painter and sculptor. And last summer he made a splash by putting together the A Day on the Bridge fundraiser on the McQuesten High Level Bridge that raised more than $500,000 for the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark.
But more recently the former CEO of Bermingham Foundation Solutions on Ferguson Avenue North has been taking note of Hamilton’s downtown revival, wanting to be part of it with his new company Atelier-Bermingham.
On Friday, Bermingham and a silent partner closed a deal to purchase 62 King Street East, a fourstorey vacant building that used to feature Chester’s Beers of the World on the first floor.
Chester’s had been shuttered for a couple of years. On the second floor, a former discotheque called Bumpers had been vacant for decades. The two floors above had been out of use even longer.
“I even found an old copy of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album left behind in the disco,” said Bermingham, who was doing a post-sale walkthrough on Tuesday.
He says he plans to preserve the 11,000-square-foot building’s historical 19th century exterior while developing it into a restaurant with apartments above or perhaps turning the structure into a boutique hotel.
“We are not sure what we are going to do but we are going to do something because I love Hamilton,” he said. “I’m using capital that I could have put in the stock market, but it is all going in Hamilton.”
He would not reveal the selling price.
“The exterior will be retained. I love the limestone front of it. We love the fact we are in the downtown overlooking Gore Park.” He likes improvements made to the park in recent years by the city, and looks forward to the LRT passing through in the future.
Diane Dent, from the heritage preservation group Friends of the Gore, said she was pleased to hear that the developer is not planning to demolish the building.
“It’s great news. The Berminghams have always done great things for Hamilton,” she said.
The heritage group has been in the news over its opposition to plans by Hughson Business Space Corporation to demolish a row of King Street East addresses built in the 1840s and 1870s for residential redevelopment. Through time, those plans for 18-22 King St. E. and 24-28 changed and more recently the developer has said it plans to preserve the facades.
Adrian Mekli, of Ambitious Realty Advisors, said there is growing interest in downtown properties by investors.
But, he said, a lot of property owners don’t realize this and leave their buildings vacant rather than putting them up for sale.
That was the case with 62 King East, he said. “The property wasn’t listed. We had to track down the owner and to negotiate a deal to buy it.”
Bermingham and his partner also have a deal in the works to purchase the 9,000-square-foot property next door at 64 King, previously owned by Frontline Focus International that has also been vacant. That deal is scheduled to close next week, he said.
Bermingham is the great grandson of William Bermingham, who started Bermingham Pile Drivers in 1897 in Kingston after landing a contract to supply and install steel rail tracks through the Crowsnest Pass in the Rockies for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The business evolved into canal and lock work and then marine construction more generally.
After the Second World War, the company moved to Hamilton and has been here ever since. Last year — as a fourth generation head of the company — Richard sold his shares to Soletanche Freyssinet of France, the largest deep foundation firm in the world. The move ended Bermingham family control over the company.