Developer shut Hamilton's City Centre a year ago for 'epic' condos. That plan's on hold indefinitely

When Hamilton's City Centre was shuttered nearly a year ago, the developer said demolition would begin within weeks to make way for an "epic" four-tower condominium project. 

But 12 months later, the boarded-up mall and its signature clock tower remain standing. 

IN8 Developments has paused the project, and demolition, until the real estate market improves, company president Darryl Firsten told CBC Hamilton this week.

"We don't want to leave a hole in the ground," he said. 

There's no new timeline, Firsten said. 

When construction begins on the 2,000 units depends on "macroeconomics," such as when the Bank of Canada will drop interest rates and make mortgages more affordable, he said. 

Once IN8 is confident it can sell about 400 units at the pre-construction stage, it'll demolish the mall. But right now that's "overwhelmingly not going to happen," said Firsten. 

"In the meantime we will continue to refine our design and make it better," Firsten said. "It's going to be an amazing project."

Across Canada, developers are building fewer homes despite a desperate need for new housing. A recent study suggests higher interest rates, set by the Bank of Canada to combat inflation, are partly to blame. The rates, currently at five per cent, translate to higher borrowing costs for both developers and potential home buyers, and make building riskier, said the report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Businesses 'rushed out' of City Centre, employee says

IN8 advertises the "state-of-the-art mixed-use destination" as an "epic transformation" on its website. 

Last year, Firsten told CBC Hamilton the project is estimated to cost more than $1 billion and take close to a decade to complete. 

At that time, the city had conditionally approved the project and IN8 closed the mall to the public on Dec. 31, 2022. Shop owners, some whom had been there for decades, were told to vacate by early January.

The City Centre Pharmacy was among those. Manager Nicole Fioravanti said IN8 gave them two months' notice, but it felt like a scramble. 

"They rushed us all out and shut off the lights just after Christmas," Fioravanti said on Tuesday. 

The pharmacy relocated to the busier Jackson Square next door, and is doing "really well," she said. Some other City Centre businesses didn't reopen elsewhere as they'd be facing higher rents.

While she doesn't like to see City Centre boarded up, she also doesn't want it torn down.

"It's a beautiful building," Fioravanti said. 

Developer says it's committed to project

Coun. Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2) said he supports the developer's plans, but this delay is disappointing. 

IN8 had originally told him it would be moving forward on "an aggressive demolition timeline," which Kroetsch said he was happy about as several other downtown sites have sat in limbo for years. 

He pointed to the former Baptist church at James and Jackson streets that's slated for condo development but has passed from owner to owner over the years. 

At the other end of James Street closer to the waterfront, the Jamesville townhouse complex was vacated in 2015, but has yet to be redeveloped because of a zoning dispute with Canadian National Railway. 

"Hamilton continues to get its hopes up and to have those hopes dashed is really hard on the community," Kroetsch said. 

He said when it comes to IN8's plans, the "potential seems to be slipping away." 

"We now have a closed building sitting there that could've kept businesses going," Kroetsch said. "It's right at the core of our city and it's not helping anyone to have it sit empty." 

Firsten said IN8 remains committed to developing the location and closing the mall was necessary, even if demolition didn't go ahead as planned last February. He said the number of tenants and customers was already steadily dwindling. 

"It's the state of the economy and COVID was really tough for a lot of those businesses," he said. "The mall to some degree was almost unsafe."