Y Lofts to lease most of spaces in Brock St. lot

Most of the Brock Street municipal parking lot could soon be leased to the developer that’s converting the historic YMCA downtown into luxury apartments.

On Monday, discussed a staff recommendation to allow Atria – the developer of the Y Lofts – to lease most of the Brock Street municipal parking lot for tenant parking.

The debate and vote didn’t happen early enough for The Examiner’s print deadline; see updates online at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.

Meanwhile a new city staff report explained the proposal.

For the city, it’s would mean a total of $1.5 million paid from Atria over the next five years (in payments of $304,000 per year).

Under a 50-year lease, the developer would get the parking for its tenants – leaving 17 parking spaces for the public (down from the current number of 92).

The report states that Atria plans to reconfigure the parking lot to squeeze in a total of 105 spots (up from 92).

Of those, 82 would be for Atria tenants, six would be for the Kawartha Memory Clinic on Brock St. and 17 would be for the public.

Meanwhile Atria has also bought a portion of the property that once belonged to Murray Street Baptist Church; it will mean an additional 23 parking spots for Y Lofts.

In total, Atria hopes to have 107 parking spots for 136 luxury apartments (82 from the city plus 23 from the church).

The city staff report also states that the Indigenous burial ground, in the north end of the parking lot, will be undisturbed.

Atria would be on the hook for the cost to reconfigure the parking lot and add access gates (about $200,000, states the staff report).

The report also says that Atria plans to offer an incentive to encourage the 63 monthly passholders at the Brock Street lot to park at the Simcoe Street parking garage instead (details on that incentive aren’t yet available).

The Y Lofts are already under construction. The plan is for 136 apartments in a seven-storey building (with the façade of the historic Y preserved).