City asked to save developers from themselves
OK, about Grandson of Port Tower …
Relax, this latest analysis of St. Catharines’ longest running drama will be relatively free of planning jargon and heritage minutiae.
Rather, philosophical questions raised at Tuesday night’s public meeting will be addressed.
First, though, the requisite background.
Way back in 2004 when the original tower was first proposed, the developers knew, or at least suspected, it would not pass muster with the municipal powers-that-be if it was presented as simply a large residential condo project.
Thus, the inclusion of a boutique hotel and 415-seat performing arts theatre along with assorted commercial/retail units in an attempt to elevate the development to economic-revitalizer status.
When city planners didn’t quite buy the original tower as such a catalyst, the developers went back to the drawing board, lowered the height, tweaked some elements and, once again, chatted up the potential of the hotel and theatre to transform Port Dalhousie into a regional tourist attraction.
Planning staff liked what they saw and threw its support behind Son of Port Tower, largely because of their belief the project could help economically revive Port’s commercial core.
City planners did not believe the condo itself would bring economic sustainability to Port. That’s why they recommended the condo not be allowed to open until all the other project elements — hotel, theatre, retail/commercial — were completed. Presumably, this stipulation was made to guard against the developer building the condo first and forgetting about everything else for the foreseeable future. Long story short, the Ontario Municipal Board eventually approved Son of Port Tower early in 2009.
I think it is safe to say the project bombed. The developers, despite all the time, energy and money spent, got it wrong. There was little appetite for very expensive condo units, a hotel partner couldn’t be found and the theatre concept was dead on arrival.
The project’s financiers, Fortress Real Development, took control of the reins a couple of years ago and after some brainstorming its deep thinkers unveiled Grandson of Port Tower.
Forget the hotel and theatre, this is a condo project, and a massive one at that. It’s not quite as tall as its father, but Grandson contains considerably more units — 220 compared to 80.
Any hopes from some community members that Fortress might scale back were delusionary. The company needs to cover its considerably sunk costs and make money for its investors. And the only way to do that is to build and sell a lot of condo units. It’s an understandable position on Fortress’s part.
But the philosophical question posed Tuesday night by a few project opponents went something like this:
Why should city council cover for the mistakes of a private developer in order that the company in question can make a profit?
For opponents, the answer is obvious. Council shouldn’t, particularly when the project, in their view, is inappropriately sized, will likely lead to parking and traffic woes — especially when seen in tandem with two other pending condo projects in the neighbourhood — and lacks the alleged economic revitalization and tourism elements the previous incarnation had. You know, the elements that sold city planning staff on the wisdom of Son of Port Tower.
A more appropriate condo development in the core, as envisioned in a new draft secondary plan for Port, would have a maximum height of five or six storeys.
Such a project would represent good, community-driven planning, and the fact a smaller-sized building may not adequately resolve the self-created financial challenges of the OMB-winning developer should not be a concern of city council, Grandson of Port Tower critics assert.
This position seems reasonable to me. But I have no idea whether it will find favour with city council.
That’s because there are politicians and others in Niagara who like to talk about being open for business, a mantra that could allow for the covering of expensive mistakes made by developers.
I guess we’ll find out soon how many of those politicians serve on St. Catharines city council.