It’s official, after over a year of private bids and Brad Lamb’s legal maneuvers after his attempt to purchase went sour, the Hamilton City Centre is officially for sale on the open market.
Court documents revealed that Brad Lamb tried to force the purchase of the property for $55-million. The current property tax assessment for the City Centre is $23-million.
Hamilton City Hall officials could barely contain their excitement at the possibility of outside money purchasing and redeveloping the 3.5-acre Central Business District site which permissive zoning allows for a wide range of uses, including residential towers.
It’s widely discussed that Cadillac Fairview, on behalf of the now defunct Eatons company, built a foundation which could support at least a mid-rise building. In the court ruling Justice Paul R. Sweeny noted this, writing the City Centre is “a unique property because of its location, history in the city of Hamilton, and the potential to build upon the existing foundation”.
During the Downtown Secondary Plan process, city staff mused that a portion of the foundation could support a 20-storey building.
Bidders for the property must agree to a confidentiality agreement prior to seeing property information details.
We have learned one new piece of information this week, the agent states on their website “all but one of the existing leases benefit from a sale and demolition clause”.