Hamilton on track for $1B in building permits
Hamilton Spectator By Steve Arnold
Hamilton's top bureaucrat sees a bright future for the city.
City manager Chris Murray told a Hamilton Chamber of Commerce audience Tuesday morning the signs supporting his vision are there for anyone who cares to look.
Signs like being on track to sell building permits for $1 billion worth of construction for this year; like a red-hot housing market that's outperforming those in Toronto and Vancouver, falling office and factory vacancy rates and an empty waiting list for assisted child care space.
"We are experiencing some phenomenal opportunities in Hamilton today," Murray said.
On top of all that, he added, is the fact both the federal and provincial governments are now dominated by Liberals, who have promised a clear and strong focus on municipal and infrastructure questions.
As positive as those signs are, Murray acknowledged there are still some issues — the planning approvals process for new development still isn't fast enough or predictable enough for the industry while the sunny outlook is linked to the proposed LRT transit system, which still faces a stiff current of opposition. The 30-year-old FirstOntario Centre arena also needs expensive refurbishing.
Looming over everything else, he said, is the troubled financial restructuring of U.S. Steel Canada, a process that has, so far, deprived retirees of millions of dollars in health benefits payments and also threatens their pensions.
"As far as the pensions go, clarity on how that will be resolved isn't there yet," Murray said. "If there's anything we can do to support the right answers, we're there."
That effort, he added, "would be a lot easier if we knew what was in the deal with the federal government."
In 2011 the Harper government signed a deal with U.S. Steel dropping a lawsuit against the company for breaking employment and production promises given when it purchased Stelco. In exchange the government got promises of capital investment and community grants, but the details of the package have never been made public.
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Positive numbers for Hamilton:
• 2 per cent: the vacancy rate for industrial space. It was 6 per cent five years ago.
• 12 per cent: the vacancy rate of office space downtown. It's down from 19 per cent four years ago.
• 1.8 per cent: the rental unit vacancy rate for the city.
• 95 per cent: the occupancy rate of the city's serviced industrial parks.
• $1 billion: the amount of construction for which the city expects to sell permits this year.
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/60...lding-permits/
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