In late November, Hamilton City Council’s West Harbour Development Subcommittee was informed that Waterfront Shores’ residential redevelopment of the Pier 8 lands has been slowed down by the downturn in condo sales across Ontario.
The four council members (Mayor Horwath, Kroetsch, Cassar, and Spadafora) endorsed a staff recommendation to allow Waterfront Shores to exit a planned lease of the Hamilton Waterfront Trust Centre at 47 Discovery Drive for a sales centre.
(The HWT building is planned to be converted into a public library branch)
During the same meeting, the sub-committee voted to begin negotiations with Waterfront Shores for the City to incorporate 300 public underground parking spaces into the planned residential development.
The parking is to support public events between Piers 5 and 8.
Both recommendations are moving forward for formal ratification at the January 14 Council Planning Committee, followed by the January 22 Council ratification meeting.
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Published: January 12, 2025
Last updated: January 12, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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v. 1.0.0 original version
If this is saying the mayor and the 3 councillors will vote on 300 underground parking spaces on the site, I will predict a split vote. Cameron and Casser opposed, the Mayor and Spadafora in favour. Having said that, there is a slight chance Casser and the Mayor could go either way.
Hmmm underground parking in this area which is already prone to flooding. Sure kets build an underground lot below the waterline right on property at the waters edge. Hope the new tenants take out water insurance or buy boats n hope they can sail right out to the Harbour. This looks to be 1 more for the Horvath joke book.
I agree Jeff, thats a due diligence question before the build. Will any insurance company insure 100%. Given the current project messes with this current council they should only be allowed to maintain until the next election. No new projects no new problems.
Great, paid parking down there will kill what little people go there now. What a great idea.
Free parking is the biggest municipal subsidy ever given to people that takes tax money from low income folks who can not afford to drive and distributes to middle and upper class in the form of a free space for a car.
Plenty of alternatives to get to places you need to be. Take transit or if you want to do it for free then bike or walk.
It’s hard to find a more accessible public space in the city, it’s literally the terminus for the A Line bus (ex the A in th BLAST network, the B is our future LRT) and a bike network that spans the lower city and west end. The last thing we need is more parking there, what a clown universe we are living in!
When I visit Kensington, Chinatown or the AGO in T.O., I appreciate the reasonable underground Green P parking available nearby (tho not necessarily the drive to get there). Let’s think beyond locals to make this the destination spot it deserves to be.
This is a great location and really interesting building, but a library? surely there are better uses.