Build downtown creative incubator: Report
Would cost up to $21 million if approved
January 18, 2010
Paul Morse
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/707202
A major report that advocates Hamilton get behind developing a massive arts incubator downtown will be delivered to the city tomorrow.
The Hamilton Creative Catalyst Project Feasibility Study calls for the city to take advantage of creative energies already transforming parts of the urban landscape by creating a huge centralized facility downtown to house and nurture a burgeoning “creative sector.”
The report comes before the the Economic Planning and Development Committee Tuesday morning.
According to the report, the “creative catalyst” incubator would occupy a large, iconic building or buildings down.
Two sizes are proposed:
* A 50,000-plus-square-foot incubator would cost up to $11.4 million to buy and renovate, but bring in up to $58 million in overall economic benefits to the city.
* A 120,000-plus-square-foot building that would house an educational partner such as a McMaster University creative program or a large cultural partner. The consultants estimate capital costs would be up to $21 million but return an overall economic benefit of up to $230 million.
The city-commissioned report, done by Toronto firms N. Barry Lyon Consultants and Consulting Matrix, recommends Hamilton’s creative sector -- particularly the city’s undervalued music industry -- be used to help revitalize the downtown and grow the local economy.
It recommends the city partner with Hamilton’s non-profit Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts, to manage the creative incubator.
To view the full report:
http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...9PED08280a.pdf
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