City recommends Waterfront Shores to buy, redevelop Pier 8
Proposal includes nearly 1,300 condo units and features Hamilton native Bruce Kuwabara as lead architect
HAMILTON IS POISED to negotiate the sale and redevelopment of Pier 8 into a new 1,300-unit harbourside community with the Waterfront Shores consortium.
Councillors considered the results of the highprofile “request for proposal” process behind closed doors Wednesday before publicly endorsing the staff-recommended developer. The decision must be ratified by council in a final vote on June 13.
City project lead Chris Phillips called the decision a “key milestone” on the road to realizing the city’s decades-old dream of growing an entirely new community from scratch on the former industrial pier.
“We can now say that shovels will be going in the ground,” he said, later adding construction on condominiums and townhomes could start in 2019.
The recommended consortium includes North End native Bruce Kuwabara as a lead architect on the proposal and is expected to include 1,292 condo units spread across 20 buildings, including townhouses on all residential blocks.
“Themed” street-level retail is expected to include
fitness, restaurants, a fresh food market and personal services, with the consortium committing to filling those eventual businesses with “local operators.”
Mayor Fred Eisenberger called the pending pier transformation the “culmination of nearly 30 years of political and financial commitments from past and present councils.” Ward Coun. Jason Farr hailed the proposal as one that “reflects our city’s values and our city’s vision.”
Early online reaction included resident compliments about building and park design.
But affordable housing advocates said they were hoping for more.
The chosen proposal also includes 65 affordable housing units administered by Habitat for Humanity — or equivalent to the five-percent minimum set by council. “Not good enough,” tweeted Beasley resident and social researcher Mike Borelli.
Activist Matt Jelly called the minimum commitment to affordable units — which are guaranteed for a finite 15-year time frame — an “insult.”
“The city owns all the land and is in a position to do better.”
A “community hub” is also pitched for the block beside the Discovery Centre — but Phillips emphasized the proposed land sale does not include the harbourside building. Council previously provoked public backlash by voting to explore selling the building as part of the pier RFP.
An ongoing lawsuit between the city and former Discovery Centre tenant Sarcoa also hangs over the ambitious pier plan. Sarcoa co-owner Sam Destro said Wednesday he believes his restaurant lease is still valid — which includes parking spaces that sit within the planned pier redevelopment.
The payoff to the city for the impending sale of 14 acres on the pier is not yet public.
A consultant previously estimated the value of the city’s various west harbour properties at close to $40 million, including the pier but also Barton-Tiffany lands and nearby social housing properties.
A council ratification vote next week is expected to kickstart negotiations with Waterfront Shores over details like a construction time frame for the nine city-owned development blocks on the pier.
That timeline is still muddled thanks to an ongoing Ontario Municipal Board appeal by residents and industrial neighbours of the pier that could stretch into late 2018.