PAUL WILSON: $50-million condo future for old Kresge building?
Frisina Group has big plans
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story...sge-building-/
A year ago yesterday, they closed the doors of Delta Bingo, King East at Hughson. Slots, lotteries, smoking bans were killing the business. Good riddance, some said.
But the alternative has been worse. On a prime corner of the core, there is a vast emptiness.
Before bingo, the space belonged to royalty in the world of the five and dime — S.S. Kresge. The chain arrived in Hamilton in 1930 with the largest single-floor variety store in Canada. And with an addition in 1948, the space stretched back to King William Street.
For years, 75 per cent of the store's wares were made in Canada. It had a full-fledged restaurant and lunch counter. Up the marble stairs, a complete bakery operation.
Then the discounters muscled out the five and dimes. Kresge's became Kmart. When the Kresge's closed in downtown Hamilton in 1994, it was the country's last.
The building went on the market at $2.8 million, but values in the core had plummeted. A pair of bingo barons bought it in 1996 for $800,000.
In recent years, with downtown prospects on the rise, investors got interested in the Kresge building. But the bingo operators would only sell to someone willing to lease the property right back to them.
And the Frisina Group was willing to do that, for something like $3 million two years ago. Ralph Frisina guessed the bingo people wouldn't be using the space much longer. He was right. They left after a year.
Ralph's father was Alfonso (Al) Frisina, the man who built Hamilton's tallest building four decades ago. It's now called Landmark Place, Main East at Catharine. Alphonso called it Century 21, because it was all about the future. While he had to chop the heliport and revolving rooftop restaurant, he did erect a 44-storey wonder.
He soon lost it in a mountain of mortgages and tax arrears, but when he died eight years ago he left behind an impressive construction portfolio — schools, postal stations, apartment towers, home developments in the suburbs.
Five years ago, the Frisina Group bought land at Main and Queen, where the vintage Forbes gas station operated until Shell sent them packing. Disappointingly, it remains an empty lot.
Ralph says the original concept to locate a real estate office there fell through. Then they redid plans to accommodate a bank. They thought that was a done deal, but it got squelched at the bank's head office. The Frisinas have now put the lot back on the market, but declare that won't be happening with the Kresge property.
Ralph says the whole family — his three brothers and two sisters — are involved in the business today. Their initial plans for the Kresge building were simple: renovate it and lure a major retailer, something like Winners. That hasn't worked.
So the family decided it was time to go big. A legacy project? "Yeah, probably. We're all little older now," says Ralph, 63.
There are plans and sketches in his briefcase. He provides a quick glimpse, but they're not ready for public viewing.
Within 60 days, he says, the Frisina Group will present a $50-million plan to the city for comments. It involves knocking down the Kresge store and building five storeys of condo lofts on its footprint. And on the parking lot at the back, off King William, a 20-storey condo tower. Between the two, about 150 units. A model suite would be installed in the old store.
The Frisinas realize it's different days in the core. "One thing is the young people," Ralph says. "They're excited about the things that are happening. They want to be downtown."
He thinks increased GO service is huge. And rapid transit would be too. "You've got to look ahead," he says.
If every project touted on these pages came to pass, Hamilton would be Manhattan by now. But this is one to watch.
There is one important issue. While the Kresge building is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, it is registered. That means there would be a sixty-day waiting period before issuance of a demolition permit. All properties on the Gore are protected this way, thanks to an initiative by ward councillor Jason Farr.
In the case of the Kresge building, Farr's main concern would be breaking up the consistent street wall on Gore Park. "A gap is out of the question," he says.
Condos in the core are great. A huge vacant lot at ground zero is not. No tearing down the old without guaranteed plans for the new.
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