Developer will pay Hamilton at least $41M for prime Pier 8 waterfront land
Samantha Craggs | CBC News | Posted: June 14, 2018 3:54 PM | Last Updated: June 14, 2018
Waterfront Shores will be home to 1,292 condos, retail space, public parks and a promenade
How much does it cost to buy a prime piece of waterfront land so you can build 1,300 condos on it? The answer: at least $41 million.
That's how much the Waterfront Shores consortium will pay the city between now and 2025 to buy Pier 8, where it will build 1,292 condos, as well as retail space. Although as it buys the land in blocks, it'll pay market value, so the city's final payday will likely be much higher.
But $41,258,843 is the initial figure city council approved Wednesday as it picked Waterfront Shores as the developer for Pier 8.
And with that, said Coun. Jason Farr, "a community is born where you couldn't get a bottle of water a decade ago."
Waterfront Shores will pay $2.5 million upfront, then the rest between 2019 and 2025. The largest payment will be in 2019-2020 with a minimum amount of $22,722,438.
At each of the four phases, the city will appraise the land, said Chris Phillips, the city's senior advisor on the project. The developer will pay more if the market value of the land has increased.
Once the buildings are completed, the developer will pay the city one per cent of the gross revenue.
The project itself dates back to 2000. That's when the city acquired Piers 7 and 8 as the result of a court battle with the federal government. But that settlement dictated the land stay in the hands of the Hamilton Port Authority.
The city tried for years to get its hands on the land, and approved the Setting Sail secondary plan, which caused dissent in the North End. In 2013, the port authority agreed to terminate the leases early and give the city control of the land.
Pier 8 is mostly empty right now, with notable exceptions like William's coffee pub, the Discovery Centre and a popular skating rink.
The new plan will see 1,292 condos in 20 separate buildings. Sixty-five of those units will be through Habitat for Humanity, fulfilling the demand for affordable housing, Phillips said.
The plans also include commercial space, themed retail zones for fitness and health, and a fresh food market.
Forty per cent of the land is public space, the city says. That includes a new waterfront promenade called "Hammer City," designed by Forrec Ltd. That design includes a beach, a games terrace, a cafe, and playground space, as well as "wetland remediation gardens."
The Waterfront Shores team includes architect Bruce Kuwabara of KPMB Architects, who is from Hamilton. It also includes Cityzen Development Corporation, Fernbrook Homes Group, GFL Environmental Inc. and Greybrook Realty Partners Inc.
This will be "a landmark city development," said Chris Phillips, the city's senior advisor on the project. And Wednesday's vote is "a major milestone."
"It's a long-term project," he said, "but this is a big deal today."