DEVELOPMENT

Uncertainty matters if you believe in the “economic uplift” potential of LRT, which the city hopes will add 108 new developments and $82 million in new city taxes and other revenue over 15 years.

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THAN ONE would-be builder is worried about the outcome of a municipal vote that some see as a referendum on Hamilton’s evercontroversial LRT — even if few will speak as bluntly about it as Lamb.

That uncertainty matters if you believe in the “economic uplift” potential of LRT, which the city hopes will add 108 new developments and $82 million in new city taxes, fees and other revenue over 15 years.

Project skeptics have long argued the “build it and they will come” promise of light rail is overblown.

Regardless, the city has already rezoned the Main-King-Queenston corridor to try to encourage denser, transit-oriented development.

The city provided The Spectator with a quick-hit list of about 30 midto-large size developments close to the prospective LRT line that are either underway or in the planning pipeline. (Officials caution the list is not comprehensive and that some projects don’t have an official goahead and may never earn approval. Others are waiting for provincial tribunal decision.)

Skeptics will rightly note some of the listed projects were in planning before Hamilton ever landed a 100 per cent LRT funding commitment from the province — like the long-running resurrection of the Royal Connaught, for example. Others might well have gone ahead regardless — particularly in a city that churned out more than $1 billion in building permits for the sixth straight year in 2018.

Coletara Development president Paul Kemper, however, once told The Spectator “we wouldn’t be building” a 23-storey condo project at the corner of King and Queen streets without LRT.

The project won’t stop now, no matter what happens on Oct. 22, he said this week, noting the residential portion of the build has largely sold out. (The project will also provide a new home to the demolished All Saints Church, which once sat on the corner.) But if LRT is derailed, “that would be negative for us, obviously ... For some people who have purchased, that (project) was part of their decision.”

Kemper said his GTA-based company is also eyeing other properties on the corridor, but will “watch and wait to see what happens” in the election before deciding whether to pursue other local projects.

Other large projects seeking approval along the corridor have deliberately tailored project pitches with LRT in mind.

A 25-storey Vrancor proposal at Main and Walnut streets — close to a planned Mary Street LRT stop — argues in its planning justification report that the project “exemplifies the form of development that can be realized along the LRT investment.”

Council signed-off on a needed zoning amendment just weeks ago.

Vrancor has also looked at the idea of a student residence tower along the west end of the King Street corridor — a proposal that relies on rapid transit to attract renters and reduce parking requirements.

LRT similarly influenced LiUNA’s decision to switch downtown gears to build a recently completed student residence near the Lister Block, said Riccardo Persi — and it is also a selling feature for a $300-million, two-tower condo and rental project at the nearby former Delta Bingo site. “I’m worried (about the election) but also hopeful,” Persi said.

“I’m hopeful council will do the right thing and stay the course.”