Fresh vision for the city of steel
'Condo King' sees potential behind bad designs, brick walls; Hamilton Next
Toronto developer Harry Stinson has been walking around Hamilton. There's a lot of potential here, he says. Don't hide your light, he says of Hamiltonians. Be confident, and where it's dark (old Eaton Centre), open it to the light.
November 21, 2007
John Burman
The Hamilton Spectator
Thoughts on Hamilton from Toronto developer Harry "The Condo King" Stinson:
* Hamilton's future lies in intellectual property, not steel.
* Steel will not be here forever. The land Dofasco and U.S. Steel sit on will always be in Hamilton and it has great value. The death of steel could be a new beginning.
Stinson was brought to Hamilton last night by architect John Mockryke, president of Stinson Properties Inc., to address a fundraiser for the Burlington and Greater Hamilton United Way
His most recent project in Toronto was the development of a former bank building and adjoining condo-hotel tower at King and Yonge streets which has gone into receivership amid legal wrangling with investors that had Stinson musing about leaving Canada for the United States.
But Stinson -- who founded the Groaning Board restaurant in Toronto, picked up kids in red hearses for birthday parties at his Mad Hatter party warehouse, got into real estate and then development -- instead began walking around downtown Hamilton.
"I didn't understand why my brother moved here three years ago," he said.
Now he's looking at houses himself.
Between snatches of Monty Python skits and deadpan impressions of Donald Trump, Stinson offered short, sharp snapshots of Hamilton:
* * *
"We are intrigued by the potential of the city, the opportunities to do something and the opportunity to make a difference."
* * *
"If the steel companies close down, it could be the birth of the city. I suspect those companies bought Hamilton steel companies to shut them down, but the land is fixable."
* * *
A handful of families control much of the downtown property with potential.
They are waiting to make a lot of money, but will not make a dime more if redevelopment isn't given a chance to begin.
* * *
Individually, Hamiltonians are optimistic about the future of the city and the downtown.
Collectively they shrug and say, "Oh well."
* * *
Lloyd D. Jackson Square and the Eaton Centre (now Hamilton City Centre) didn't kill the downtown core.
"It's just a badly designed mall that needs to be opened up. Do that and these streets will fill up with people.
* * *
If you believe in your community, invest in it. Hamilton needs a development fund so the money is ready when someone finally decides to sell a piece of property with great potential to start a renaissance. Until then everything seems "totally inert."
* * *
"I just keep walking around. The right property will come along. I believe the Connaught Hotel could be that property which starts things off. I was interested in doing something there before."
* * *
The Connaught sits in "a perfect civic square."
* * *
The Pigott Building (condos) is dark. "It needs lights. It doesn't look like anyone's there. LED lights are cheap."
* * *
The Hamilton City Centre: "It's dead. Needs windows. All you see are hundreds of feet of buff brick walls. It looks like a dentist got into the development business."
* * *
People want interesting ideas. they will buy them and live in them.
* * *
Hamilton is plagued with a "'Why try?' feeling."
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