220 Dundurn St | 78 and 87.3m | 25 and 28 fl | Proposed

[ScreamingViking]

Spec story posted this evening:

Denis Vranich: Developer brings new life to abandoned factory
Developer building rental units at Dundurn and Chatham

The Hamilton Spectator -- Aug 4, 2016
By Steve Arnold

One of Hamilton's perennial eyesores has found new life as an apartment building.

The first tenants have taken up residence at the former National Hosiery Mills building — 220 Dundurn St. S. at the corner of Chatham Street. Their arrival brings the site's long journey from abandoned factory to new homes closer to a finish.

"The historic building built by National Hosiery Mills Ltd. in the roaring '20s is now a 124-unit luxury loft apartment in the heart of Hamilton," developer Denis Vranich said in an email exchange.

"Occupancy (permit) was issued mid-July and we are now in the process of moving in our new family of residents."

Vranich's success in turning the once-crumbling brick building into new homes — and tax revenue for the city — ends a 20-year odyssey for the building that has seen several ideas blossom and wither.

Vranich, son of downtown megadeveloper Darko Vranich, purchased the four-acre property in 2007 for $1.5 million. Originally constructed in 1928 by National Hosiery Mills to manufacture silk stockings, it was acquired by the Hamilton Board of Education in 1967 for use as a vocational training centre, storage and a film library.

The school board declared it surplus in 1996 and sold it to a development company called Dundurn Street Loffts for $400,000. Between then and 1999 several development concepts were announced, and 50 deposits for units were collected, but nothing ever materialized on the site.

In 2003 it was sold under power of sale to a numbered company in Thornhill and then to Vranich in January 2007.

Redevelopment work started in October 2012 when the rear section of the building was removed. In the fall of 2014 site plan approval was granted for a three-storey main building plus an extension to the back for a total of 124 units and 216 parking spaces.

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Aidan Johnson feels it could have been more (and he's right IMO)... quote from the story:
"I have advocated to Mr. Vranich for first-floor commercial use of the 220 Dundurn property. I have a strong preference for seeing the first storey used for commercial purposes, so as to aid in the revitalization of Dundurn," Johnson said in an email exchange. "Unfortunately, Mr. Vranich has indicated that he is not interested in this idea."


Pics from the story: