Bet on slow-track progress for condo project
We’ve got another potentially bad construction-start forecast to add to the Port Place saga.
Such wonky predictions were plentiful when previous gangs were running the show.
One of the original kingpins, Dan Raseta, suggested in the spring of 2010 that groundbreaking could occur the following year. In the winter of 2012, new boss Derek Martin was talking about a construction start later that fall.
Subsequent soothsaying efforts also fell flat.
Now, this. Nick Circosta, vice-president of development and special projects for Fortress Real Development Inc., told The Standard last month the latest owners are hoping to start digging by next spring.
That’s after they get approval for a redesign that may involve chopping one to three storeys off the condo tower.
By the way, after recently spending time in various high rise concrete jungles in South Korea, I am having difficulty describing a 17-storey building as a tower. My concept of highdensity residential projects has also taken a bit of a hit.
Allow me one more digression before my brain completely adjusts to life back in Canada.
While in Korea, we took a train from Gyeongju to Seoul, a distance of about 275 kilometres. The trip, which had four stops along the way, took two hours, thanks to the train reaching speeds of 300 km/hr on certain stretches.
During the journey, my mind drifted back several months to when local politicos were excited about a GO train plan that would see rail commuters from Niagara Falls reaching downtown Toronto in two hours and 20 minutes.
OK, digressions over. Let’s get back to the Port Dalhousie Higher-Than-Your-Average Building.
I don’t doubt a majority of city councillors and Mayor Walter Sendzik would greet any revised design with enthusiasm and cheer on a 2016 construction start.
Problem is, they’re not necessarily in a position to fast-track the approval process.
The Ontario Municipal Board decision that ruled in favour of Port Place was very specific about how the project needed to proceed and what elements were required.
Any deviation from those conditions would presumably open up the public process again.
I have never got the impression that project opponents would be amenable to a slight decrease in the height of the condo building. They’ve remained adamant that only a low-rise building would fit in with the rest of the commercial core.
Opponents also have indicated little interest in compromising on the project’s theatre and hotel elements.
Their position has always been that those elements are what the original developer used to help sell the project on economic revitalization/tourism grounds. Otherwise, it’s just a condo build. Thus, their insistence that OMB ruling be followed to the letter.
The dilemma here is that past and present developers believe there is a need to have 80 residential units on site to make the overall project financially feasible. Count on any future owner feeling the same way.
It’s a point that was reemphasized by Circosta in his conversation with The Standard last month.
The Fortress Real Development group has seemingly been responsive to concerns from the city and the community since it took over ownership of the property in January. And it’s a breath of fresh air on the media relations front compared to Derek Martin and company.
Still, a 2016 spring construction start?
I’m thinking the project will continue to proceed at Niagara GO train velocity rather than Korean rail service speed.