Stinson says he’s gunning for Cannon Knitting Mills
Hamilton Spectator By Teviah Moro | FRI, APR 08, 2016
The developer who converted an old Hamilton school to condos says he's made a play for the Cannon Knitting Mills — a highly watched transaction on which many are pinning hopes for inner-city renewal.
"We did put an offer in," Harry Stinson said Friday.
Stinson says his offer was registered among other credible competitors on the table for the vacant and deteriorating knitting mills, which occupies a massive footprint next to the Beasley neighbourhood's namesake park.
The Toronto-based developer behind the Stinson School Lofts and a similar project planned for the former Gibson school on Barton East is keeping his fingers crossed.
"There were a lot of parties, very credible and serious, who had the potential of closing on it and would like to close on it."
When contacted Friday, listing agent Derek Doyle declined to comment on the pending sale saying he was bound by confidentiality.
However, Doyle insisted there were "inaccuracies" in Stinson's remarks but refused to elaborate further.
"I can't confirm or deny information," he said. "It's inaccurate."
When asked to respond to Doyle's remarks, Stinson said he was "mystified."
The developer said he was under the impression there were multiple offers and insisted his was one of them.
"So I don't know what he means by inaccuracies."
The Knitting Mills, at Cannon and Mary streets, was listed in late January for $2.4 million.
In late February, the city announced in a report that the owner of the 110,000-square-foot-plus property, Forum Equity Partners, had a "firm deal" to sell.
The buyer and seller asked that details not be released until the title changed hands, Glen Norton, the city's manager of urban renewal, said at the time.
Ten years ago, Forum, a Toronto-based development firm, partnered with the city to buy the knitting mills for $200,000.
The joint venture, called the Hamilton Realty Capital Corporation (HRCC), was meant to encourage development in the core. It saw the city lend Forum $100,000 to purchase the property, which was built between 1854 and 1950.
City council recently voted to dissolve the HRCC, whose only asset had been the contaminated knitting mills land, a property that failed to garner any tenants despite several attempts.
Jason Farr, councillor for the area, said Friday he didn't know any players in the running for the property.
Farr said he hasn't pushed for information because the transaction is a private sale between Forum and bidders.
"I think no matter what, it's going to be a good news story in that building."
Farr did say, however, that's he's heard there's more than one "proponent waiting in the wings."
Stinson called the knitting mills a "wonderful building" with some challenges such as contamination and a footprint that's squeezed for parking.
"It's not a slam-dunk, single-family-home purchase."
He believes the best bet is a mixture of residential — lofts, in particular — retail and commercial.
The former industrial property is close to downtown, the farmers' market and the James North GO station. "It's very rare that you get one that is easier to walk to City Hall than it is to drive."
Stinson said Beasley — one of Hamilton's more impoverished neighbourhoods — is on the cusp of significant change.
"But realistically, for a neighbourhood to turn around, someone has to do something crazy. Big. Something has to happen that you can't ignore."
Both Stinson and Doyle declined to say when a deal is expected to close. Forum didn't respond to a request for comment Friday.
tmoro@thespec.com
905-526-3264 | @TeviahMoro
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/64...nitting-mills/
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