Councillors back sale of downtown alley to speed James North reno project
Hamilton Spectator By Dave Churchill 23 February 2015
Hamilton councillors have recommended the sale of a downtown alley that is key to a James Street North revitalization project.
The city's public works committee Monday morning backed a plan that will see the deteriorating alley sold to Core Urban Inc. to facilitate a proposal which would see unused space turned into offices for dozens of workers.
Core Urban Inc. wants to combine a five-storey narrow building at 14 James St. N. with a smaller three-storey structure beside it. To do that, it needs to acquire the alley that leads off James Street between the buildings.
The alley — which is essentially a tunnel with two-stories of unused office space above — would be developed into a lobby and elevator that would service the combined project.
Steve Kulakowski of Core Urban said if the sale of the alleyway gets the approval of council Wednesday, the company is ready to move quickly on its plans.
Drawings have been completed and Core Urban is set to begin the formal approvals process, he said.
"We don't like to wait on properties. We want to get going."
Core Urban has been responsible for a number of recent projects in Hamilton, including the Witton Lofts, the Empire Times Building and the Herkimer Apartments. They recently bought the former Reardon's Meats building on King William.
The project got a boost Monday when a lawyer for DeSantis Group Inc. withdrew its objection to the sale of the alley. DeSantis owns a major piece of property next door to the site, which is currently being used a parking lot but is slated for development.
Scott Snider, a lawyer representing DeSantis, withdrew the company's objections when councillors said they would give written assurance that trespassers would be discouraged from using the DeSantis property and that the city will not impose any setbacks on the future DeSantis development as a result of the sale of the alley.
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