Mohawk to restore historic Century Manor
Complex deal will also see city get land for affordable housing
Mohawk College will spend millions of dollars restoring historic Century Manor after a complex deal with the city and province to buy the former psychiatric hospital lands on the Mountain brow.
The deal involves the province selling the coveted 12.5-hectare property beside St. Joseph’s Healthcare Centre, through the City of Hamilton, to the college for $9.5 million.
The city will then be allowed to use the sale proceeds to create affordable housing in a planned mixed-use tower development at 191 York Blvd. The city has previously identified that site, which it owns, as a candidate for a 20storey redevelopment via a private-public partnership.
A jubilant Ward 8 Coun. Terry Whitehead said the deal took nearly three years of negotiation and managed “in one swoop” to preserve heritage, create public access to the brow and generate badly needed housing.
“We’re meeting the needs of the community, we’re meeting the needs of Mohawk College and we’re saving a heritage-designated
building that the city did not have the capacity to deal with,” he said.
Mohawk president Ron McKerlie said Thursday the brow lands give the college “room to grow,” but added it’s too early to say if the land is destined for student housing, new campus buildings or other uses.
But he did commit to spending up to $9 million to restore Century Manor, which once formed a part of the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane.
McKerlie pointed out the Fennell campus was once farm fields
tilled by patients at the hospital — and the student pub still has an original cellar that once stored fruit and vegetables harvested from the land. The land purchase “will be symbolically reuniting the original farm and creating new opportunities to grow our campus and our college,” he said.
Century Manor has a heritage designation, but has fallen into disrepair. Current owner Infrastructure Ontario previously banned public access over safety concerns.
Heritage advocate Patricia Saunders, who helped organize a task force dedicated to saving the failing manor built in 1884, has in the past accused the government of allowing “demolition by neglect.”
Saunders expressed hope this week that a new owner will move quickly to “preserve what’s left” of the impressive Victorian Gothic architecture, noting the province has previously identified risks of mould and damage due to previously unprotected upper windows.
Mohawk officials had to tour the building in protective suits and with flashlights, since there is no power.
It will take a few months for the college to officially take possession of the land. The city will retain some green space as well as publicly accessible trails along the brow.
But Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin emphasized Thursday the sale has Treasury Board approval and is a “done deal,” regardless of the looming provincial election. The deal was arranged under a relatively new program designed to leverage surplus provincial properties to create affordable housing.
It’s not yet clear when 191 York Blvd. will be redeveloped, how many affordable units will be included or whether the units will be subsidized or simply less than market rate.
Paul Johnson, general manager of healthy and safe communities, said the city is aiming for more than 20 per cent affordable units in the eventual residential development. Space will also be reserved for the existing tenant at 191 York, Community Living Hamilton.
A report on next steps is expected later this year or early 2019. Early design concepts show one or more 20-storey towers with lower-level commercial space.