Downtown Hamilton could get a boost if corner complex developedBy Kate Adach, special to CBC News Posted: Jul 4, 2012 9:50 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 4, 2012 9:48 AM ET
Real estate developer Jack Beume has three-storey-high hopes for downtown Hamilton. He aspires to build a retail and office space that could provide a big boost to the downtown core. He just needs to secure its financing.
The proposed building would sit at the northwest corner of James Street North and Vine Street, replacing an old parking lot he has owned for about 20 years. It's a spot known by some local shopkeepers as a “hole” among the storefronts on the street.
Filling the gravel-covered corner with shops and office spaces could be a boon to James Street North's retailers. But Beume, president of J. Beume Real Estate Ltd., won't go ahead with the $8.5-million project unless he has enough commitment from tenants willing to lease the space.
“It must be 70 per cent pre-leased come Christmas,” Beume said. Currently, with one tenant on board, he has 33 per cent covered.
Marvin Ryder, a professor at McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business, has “no doubt” that Beume will be able to fill the space.
“If Jack wants a building and wants tenants,” Ryder said. “He's the kind of guy who will do just that.”
Beume, 75, owns 12 properties in Hamilton “of all different kinds” and has been in real estate for the bulk of his life. His most recent project is the Burton Gardens townhouse complex on the north side of Burton Street, which opened this spring.
The residential townhomes “proved to be a success,” said Jason Farr, Ward 2 City Councillor. Beume's housing property gave Farr faith in the developer's new James Street real estate venture. “I'm pretty optimistic that [Beume] will realize his dream.”
A “Dream” for James Street North
When local shop owner Dave Kuruc saw the sign Beume had had erected on the parking lot grounds Tuesday morning, he snapped a picture of it and tweeted the news.
“If it looks anything like the pic,” Kuruc said, “I think people will be happy.”
The proposed building is a three-storey, red brick structure with five windowed shop faces on the James Street side and a rounded, glass-pillar corner. The main level will be a retail and commercial space, with offices on the upper levels. Parking will be available for merchants behind the stores, and underground for tenants.
Rick Lintack, of Lintack Architects Inc., designed it as an “elegant little building” based on what was there in the 1940s, Beume said. “I'm trying to accommodate the street.”
The design “excites” Kuruc, who has owned Mixed Media, an art supply store, with his wife since 2005. Their store is one of only a few shops within the block north of the proposed building.
“Anything that'll get rid of a parking lot on our main drive is a positive thing,” he said. “And it isn't just a box on the corner.”
Glen Norton, who manages the city's urban renewal department, is also optimistic about turning over the parking lot.
If this project goes ahead it “benefits everybody.” People will be more likely to shop downtown, Norton believes, than go to the big malls or out of the city.
Beume's project “speaks to the future” of Hamilton, Norton said, as well as its current conditions. “The economy is finally improving. We're now getting the right economic environment.”
James Street North has seen other recent restoration projects such as the Lister Block project across from the proposed building, and the Hamilton Artists Inc. building one block north. These may have been “a catalyst” for the new retail development, Ryder said.
New Neighbours
Any prospective tenant Beume entertains has to be “pro-Hamilton,” the developer said.
“Certainly you're not going to see a strip club or a sleazy type of operation of any kind, I won't do it.”
And although he won't say much about his current tenant, “he's a man who cares about the city,” Beume said.
Kuruc hopes his new retail “neighbours” will match his art supply store by being small, local and independent shops.
However, small business owners may have to compete with larger corporations.
Beume said he would like “a better-quality coffee shop.”
A Starbucks “would be nice,” he said. “There's only two or three in town that I know of.”
Either way, Kuruc is thrilled that others have spotted opportunities in the same area that he has invested in.
“I think people see something has been here happening for 10 years,” Kuruc said, “but now it's a critical mass.”
Beume had held onto the parking lot for decades waiting for the area to slowly gentrify. If it goes forward, the new building would open around March 2014.
“I hope it doesn't break by other economics,” Beume said, “but there's enough momentum building that this should become a real, live street again.”
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