Optimism reigns for luxury downtown project

A signature residential development is poised to launch this fall in downtown St. Catharines.

The six-storey, 37-suite condo building on Yates Street will be the most expensive private-sector project to date in the downtown area, with construction costs alone estimated at close to $25 million.

Units in the luxury building will run from $640,000 to $1.3 million.

OK, let’s pause for a moment and catch our breath.

In doing so, you might recall we’ve heard this sort of thing before.

In fact, the concept of a residential condo at 77 Yates (near the old Hotel Dieu property) has been kicking around since the late 1980s when the property was rezoned for that purpose.

On at least three occasions during that time, suggestions were made that a construction start was nigh.

Such optimism was most recently in evidence five summers ago when realtor Sally McGarr, a partner in the project, said a marketing campaign was about to be launched. While the start of construction would be predicated on selling about 50 per cent of the units, McGarr was hopeful the development could break ground in the spring of 2013.

Inquiring minds might well wonder, then, why the project team so confidently declared at a launch party this week that the target date for the building’s groundbreaking is Oct. 1.

Well, there may be a few reasons for this sunny outlook — buoyant real estate market, improved downtown — but one stands above the others.

It was revealed at the launch ceremony that a big fish has been landed.

First Ontario Credit Union is a 50 per cent partner in the venture, joining other principles Hummel Properties Inc. and McGarr and Associates Inc.

With First Ontario on board as a major equity owner, achieving a high number of pre-sales is not as important a factor in green-lighting the construction start.

“This time it is a go,” said McGarr, pointing to the “ton of credibility” First Ontario brings to the project.

While the footprint and building envelope pretty much remain the same as the 2012 version, this one features a new architectural design and look.

McGarr said a number of people told her the earlier one had a retirement-home feel about it, a view she began to share as well.

So, the project team hired Kitchener-based SRM Architects, which created a “more modern, streamlined look,” said McGarr.

Rainer Hummel, another principle, exuded additional enthusiasm.

“This is bold, this is sexy, this is edgy,” he told bedazzled wine-sippers at the launch party. It is that. Indeed, out of curiosity if nothing else, downtown denizens or visitors may want to drop in at the McGarr and Associates office on St. Paul Crescent behind The Rockpile to check out the $40,000 scale model of the building.

It effectively demonstrates how the six-storey structure is built into the slope of the Twelve Mile Creek Valley. There are only three visible levels fronting onto Yates, with the ground level serving as a parking garage.

It would be hard to overestimate both the economic jolt and psychological boost this project would deliver to the city core if it proceeds and opens, as planned, in the spring of 2019.

Great strides have been made in recent years in enhancing the health and look of the downtown, thanks, in large part, to civic investments like the Meridian Centre, First Ontario Performing Arts Centre, Carlisle parking garage and Burgoyne Bridge replacement.

Penn Terra Group Inc. has responded by recently opening a couple of student residences, a 53-unit building on James Street and a 67unit one on Lake Street.

And Seasons Retirement Communities has announced its intention to develop a massive 560-unit seniors housing campus on the old Hotel Dieu site, which, if completed as planned, would far exceed the Yates Street project in construction value.

These developments are impressive and welcome. But they’re also aimed at highly specific rental markets.

The Residences of 77 Yates is a luxury condo building that would attract the type of demographic downtown St. Catharines has long pined for. If the development proves successful, it could also pave the way for additional upscale housing projects in the core.

Here’s hoping Oct. 1 isn’t a missed deadline, but the beginning of a bold new residential era.