Hamilton, Ontario offers financing for renovation, restoration construction projects
DON PROCTER
correspondent
http://dcnonl.com/article/id47280/--...ction-projects
Downtown Hamilton is witnessing an increase in renovation and restoration of its historic building stock, much of which has sat vacant or under-used for decades.
About 150 to 200 jobs in knowledge-based and creative sectors have been generated annually in the core since 2008-09, says Glen Norton, manager of urban renewal for the city of Hamilton’s economic development division.
Those employers are choosing to locate in many of the downtown’s “funky old buildings,” he points out. “Old bare brick walls, creaky wooden floors and high beamed ceilings (for which the city’s core has a good supply) appeal to web developers, architects.”
The field of animation is a prime example. In the past two years four animation studios have set up shop, he says.
“We have a fairly old inner city core which a lot of people are fairly negative about so the more we can improve its image the more we improve the image of the entire city.”
It is not simply an improving economy that is propelling adaptive reuse developments though. Some Toronto employers and builders, fed up with that city’s costs, are moving to Hamilton where prices are decades lower.
The City of Hamilton is going after more such employers and builders through an advertising campaign in major Toronto daily newspapers about its developer-friendly incentives package for renovation/restoration projects in the inner city.
The city has nine incentives, one of which offers property owners a low-interest loan (one per cent below prime) and financing for 90 per cent of leasehold improvements with five years to repay.
“Banks won’t loan for leasehold improvements because they don’t have any collateral value, so we have been bridging that piece,” says Norton.
The incentive is for property owners with empty space that attract tenants from outside the city.
Other city incentives include matching grants for historic restoration and a grant-back program that has a five-year phase-in on property tax owed on the assessed value after improvements, says Norton.
“We want to accelerate the growth downtown so I am going to Council this fall to propose three more incentives.”
The most notable change in the core could be the redevelopment of the city’s grande Royal Connaught Hotel which has sat empty for most of the past decade.
A development team is looking at redeveloping it as a combination boutique hotel/condominium complex.
Another proposed development is the conversion of a federal government building into condo lofts.
Norton believes Hamilton incentive package is among the most comprehensive in Canada and the U.S., citing conversations with some American counterparts.
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