Harbour property opens up for business
Former Stelco land on east harbour has been inactive for a decade
Twenty-four hectares of real estate on Hamilton’s industrial east harbour is opening up for new business.
Hamilton’s port authority announced it is teaming up with steel manufacturer Max Aicher North America (MANA), which owns the land.
The former Stelco-owned property is on the northeast corner of Pier 18, on Stipes Inlet, and has been inactive for at least 10 years.
With residential development blossoming on the west harbour, the port authority — renamed the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA) last June after an amalgamation — has yearned to free up industrial shoreline.
More than 95 per cent of the working port’s 255 hectares is occupied by tenants.
Ian Hamilton, president and CEO of HOPA Ports, told The Spectator he’s not sure what companies will locate on the MANA land, but said there is plenty of interest in its potential for storage and loading goods for rail and water transport.
“There are interesting opportunities that present to us nearly every day of the week, and this site is a really good spot to take advantage of those.”
Hamilton’s port authority has about 130 tenants, ranging from fertilizer and agri-food industries to ship repair and a craft brewery.
MANA will continue to own the land while the port authority manages new tenants. The site features warehouse buildings and an old steel mill, idle since MANA purchased the property from U.S. Steel in 2010.
A similar-sized property further south hosts MANA’s active operation: manufacturing steel bars for concrete reinforcement in construction, and products for the auto industry. The business employs 115 workers, company CEO Walter Sommerer told The Spectator.
He said MANA officials first spoke with HOPA about striking a deal last fall, and that it benefits both parties.
“We are not going to sell the property, and we don’t have a use for the mill; it is obsolete,” he said. “We want to develop the property with the port authority ... it offers logistics for transload material shipping, with access to water, rail, highways, the airport, and proximity to the U.S. border, when it opens up again.”
According to HOPA figures, 2,100 people work on industrial harbour lands in Hamilton, and the port generates $6 billion in economic activity in Ontario.