Vantage Acquisition Inc., the newest owner of the former James Street Baptist Church property, is requesting minor variances from the City of Hamilton to permit a fifty-two per cent increase in the number of residential units, decrease in parking spaces, lower floor heights, and larger balconies.
The application for the property at 98 James Street South seeks to increase the approved unit count from 259 to 395, an increase of 136 units from the plan approved by City Council in 2015.
If approved, the 395 units will consist of 213 one-bedroom, 148 two-bedroom, and 34 three-bedroom units.
The unit count increase would result in smaller residential spaces. The 395-unit mix includes three-bedroom units as small as 712 square feet, one-bedroom units starting at 401 square feet, and two-bedroom units starting at 527 square feet.
Vantage Acquisition Inc. purchased the property for $13 million in January 2025 out of a bankruptcy sale. The City agreed to extend a building permit issued in 2019, grandfathering the development charges (DCs) paid on the original 259 units, provided construction begins by December 31, 2026. At the time, the lawyer for the bankruptcy receiver told the Superior Court the City’s agreement to not charge the nearly $5,180,000 difference between 2019 DCs and 2025 rates was crucial to the transaction.
Development charges are levied by unit, meaning DCs will need to be paid for the 136 additional units.
Further variances requested include:
- Reducing visitor parking spaces from the required twenty-one to four.
- Lowering floor heights within the podium to 3.2 metres on the main level and 2.8 metres on the third floor.
- Allowing balcony encroachment of 1.5 metres instead of the permitted 1.0 metre.
The new building design maintains the maximum permitted building height of 106 metres approved in 2015. It increases the number of storeys to 34, from 31, by decreasing planned floor heights.
The property has been the subject of multiple corporate bankruptcies since the heritage-designated church was demolished in 2014, an action officially classified as a “minor heritage alteration.“
Vantage also owns 188 Cannon Street East, where construction on a 33-storey, 353-unit rental building is expected to begin in the coming months.
The Committee of Adjustment hearing for the application is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on December 11, 2025, at Hamilton City Hall.
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v. 1.0.0
Published: November 26, 2025
Last updated: November 26, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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