Delta SS transformation

[bornagainbiking]

COUNCILLOR WANTS CITY TO PURCHASE DELTA PROPERTY
From CHML news app.
THURSDAY May 31 2012

A Hamilton politician says it's the best scenario under a very bad situation.

Councillor Sam Merulla is suggesting that the City of Hamilton seek to purchase the Delta Secondary School property now that the high school has been confirmed for closure by the public school board.

[BCTed]

from http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ew-development:

"Merulla says he doesn’t believe the city has ever embarked on this kind of project. However, he points out that several other former schools — such as Stinson and Allenby — have been successfully redeveloped as condos or lofts."

I don't know anything about Allenby, but I am not too sure that the Stinson school has been successfully redeveloped as anything.

[flar]

What would the city do with such a building?

Developing a small elementary school into lofts is one thing, but Delta is a huge high school building. It probably won't translate well to anything other than institutional use.

What I don't get is why they don't just keep it open instead of building another school. It's an iconic building, like Westdale HS. Didn't they just revamp Delta a few years ago? Why the need to constantly close these huge buildings and build brand new ones? Seems like a huge waste.

[Duckyboy]

Originally Posted by BCTed

from [URL="http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/735433--city-eyes-delta-for-new-development"]"... — such as Stinson and Allenby — have been successfully redeveloped as condos or lofts."

I don't know anything about Allenby, but I am not too sure that the Stinson school has been successfully redeveloped as anything.

Yea... that might be counting your chickens before they hatch.

[matt602]

I really don't want to see Delta torn down or abandoned but as already mentioned, Delta is freaking HUGE. There would have to be a very thriving market for a conversion project which you wouldn't find in really any area of Hamilton yet. I would think that if it were tackled, a few wings of the building would have to be demolished in order to decrease the size. I also worry that even if the city were to purchase the building, it would just sit empty for years much like the smaller Mills China building on King has.

[devil's advocate]

Why not turn the building into a rec center? Heck move the Kenilworth library into there. Have a pool, weight rooms, indoor soccer fields, basketball courts etc and maybe even fit a ice rink in there. This is something I think that part of the city could really use, just a thought

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Delta was recently renovated, though I'm not sure to what degree. I haven't been inside the school for about ten years and while it was in dire need then, it's probably just fine now.

Perhaps the City could purchase the school and house some of its employees there. They most certainly wouldn't be able to fill it but as long as the building is in use to some degree, it won't fall into disrepair.

Maybe Columbia College or some other private school would be interested.

I, for one, do not like converting schools into condos. No matter what the Board says, this school and so many others slated to close, are needed. To alter them for housing would render them useless as schools in the future. And as we all know, school enrolment is a cyclical thing; Delta will be in demand again at some point in the future.

[bornagainbiking]

How about a community centre with rooms allocated for brownies, girl guides, scouts, cadets and Boys and Girls clubs. With classrooms.
Or for assisted living the halls are very wide for wheel chairs, scooters and set up clinics, and as this city is aging all the other services, cafeteria, foot doctor, RMT, psysio, ti-chi, yoga etc etc.
East Hamilton is getting older and retirement services will be needed.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Sounds good to me. But the Board will sell it to the highest bidder. Not sure whether the City will play that game or not.

[mattgrande]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

^Sounds good to me. But the Board will sell it to the highest bidder. Not sure whether the City will play that game or not.

Isn't there a specific order of groups they have to offer it to before it goes for open bidding? Catholic board, French schools, colleges, universities, then the city?

[SteelTown]

^ Yes.

[thomax]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Isn't there a specific order of groups they have to offer it to before it goes for open bidding? Catholic board, French schools, colleges, universities, then the city?

Here is the order.


Who can bid on school properties?


1. French language public district school board

2. English language separate district school board

3. French language separate district school board

4. The board of a Protestant separate school

5. English language college (Mohawk College)

6. French language college

7. University (McMaster University)

8. Crown right of Ontario

9. Municipality (City of Hamilton)

10. Crown right of Canada

[lucasmascotto]

How to keep Delta from becoming a ‘parking lot for trucks’
By Teri Pecoskie
Hamilton Spectator

The push is on to protect Delta Secondary.

A city committee has asked staff to look into having the 88-year-old school officially designated heritage.

The issue is expected to go to council for ratification Wednesday.

"We don't want to designate it to the point where it becomes unfeasible to pursue development," said ward Councillor Sam Merulla. "We allow the experts to decide what is and what isn't architecturally significant."

Merulla, who's behind the motion, wants to leverage his area rating funds to purchase the sprawling Main Street East property when the school closes in 2016.

His vision is a "hybrid" development that includes much-needed green space and a condo complex, which would keep the building's impressive architecture intact.

"It's an important project that the community is not only excited about, but deserves," he said.

There is a challenge. Once the building is designated, it has the potential to be a tough sell.

"It is something that any potential owner has to be aware of," said Dan Del Bianco, senior facilities officer for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. "Whether that limits the number of potential purchasers or enhances it, it all depends."

Developer Harry Stinson agreed the designation would drive some buyers away. For him personally, however, it isn't an issue.

"It doesn't concern me that it would be designated," he said. "I'd prefer if it weren't. But would I walk off and say I'm not going to bother? Absolutely not."

That said, Stinson admitted designating Delta is in the city's best interest — and the sooner, the better. If all goes to plan, Delta could receive heritage status before the end of the year.

"It certainly deserves to be designated. It's a handsome building. Do it before someone changes their mind or some government department decides it would be a nice parking lot for trucks."

An official designation would prevent Delta from being demolished and impose limitations on how the building could be adapted for reuse. But it won't affect the board's ability to sell the school — or the city's ability to buy it.

"The school board can maintain it in ownership, they can sell it if they like," said municipal heritage committee chair Alissa Denham-Robinson. "In that respect, there are no restrictions on the property."

[lucasmascotto]

City plans condos, green space for Delta Secondary
By: Samantha Craggs
CBC News Hamilton

Sam Merulla envisions bright plans for Delta Secondary — plans that include green space and upscale condos on the property that houses Hamilton's oldest high school.

The Ward 4 councillor is pleased that last week, the city's heritage committee recommended city council designate the school at 1284 Main St. E. as a heritage property. That means any future development on the property has to take into account the heritage features for the stately 1924 building.

The school is scheduled to close in 2016. After that, Merulla said, the city wants to see a mixed-use property that includes condos and a much-needed park in the area. It would be fitting for a historic building that sits on important property in the neighbourhood.

“There are already a number of developers interested in it,” he said. “A lot of them are excited about this project."

The future of Delta has been precarious since last year, when the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted to close the school. Students from Delta, Sir John A. Macdonald and Parkview will attend a new high school in the Pan Am precinct, located where the former King George and Parkview schools are, with its parking lot a short distance away at Scott Park.

To get rid of the property, the school board will declare it surplus. Then it gives first dibs to the Catholic board and the city. The city plans to buy it and put out a request for proposal for interested developers, Merulla said.

Coun. Brian McHattie of Ward 1, who sits on the city heritage committee, says Delta’s historic features can’t be replicated.

“You’ll never duplicate all the neat little internal rooms, not to mention the auditorium,” McHattie said.

The building has an “incredible elegance,” he said.

The process to designate the school as heritage began in April 2013, when city council added the property to the city’s Register of Property of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest, a city report says.

The city will put out a similar request for interested developers as it has done for the City Motor Hotel, Merulla said.

In 2013, the city took possession of the east-end motel, notorious for the number of times police were called there. Demolition happened over the summer.

The city will put out a call in the new year for interested developers to make the property a “commercial, residential and public transportation hub,” Merulla said.

The project, he said, will be “something we can look back on as a legacy project.”