Entrepreneur envisions tech and medical hub behind Hamilton City Hall
‘It’s my argument that Hamilton is the next metropolitan city,’ Paven Bratch says
NEWS 10:50 AM by Teviah Moro The Hamilton Spectator
Paven Bratch standing on the historic staircase in The Pasadena. - Gary Yokoyama , The Hamilton Spectator
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Paven Bratch, former owner of Radius and well-known Hamilton entrepreneur. - Cathie Coward , The Hamilton Spectator
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A Hamilton-born entrepreneur is hoping to build a technology and medical innovation hub in what is now the back parking area of city hall.
The ambitious plan calls for two towers of 20 and 24 storeys with a combined 572,000 square feet of office space.
Paven Bratch's proposal also includes a 12-storey city expansion building with 120,000 square feet of office space.
The tech campus would place 1,350 parking spaces under the surface and include 200 spots for bikes and showers.
His plan also includes green space.
"I think this is a great opportunity for Hamilton," Bratch, who made his pitch to city councillors Wednesday, told The Spectator.
He and his firm, MetroPartners Inc., want to buy the southerly parking area behind the city hall building at fair market value.
The city would retain ownership of the existing 1960s-era municipal building on Main Street West.
In addition to the two office towers, Bratch's plan includes a 12-storey civic expansion building with a gym if city hall needs more space in coming years.
Details of what that arrangement would look like would have to be hashed out with the city, Bratch said.
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During Wednesday's meeting, councillors Sam Merulla and Jason Farr circulated a draft motion to have staff negotiate a memorandum of understanding with MetroPartners Inc. to create the tech hub.
The MOU would include a sale and long-term lease option at fair market value of the lands behind the city hall building.
Bratch is betting the local hub can be an attractive location for large firms to establish beachheads near saturated and expensive Toronto.
He said his proposal would do this by building much-needed modern office space in Hamilton.
"I think our city has done a great job in creating a fabulous vibe. It's my argument that Hamilton is the next metropolitan city."
Bratch, 56, is the original owner of Radius, an eatery and bar on the northeast corner of James and Augusta streets, and a real estate developer.
The McMaster University commerce graduate worked for Procter and Gamble before becoming a "serial entrepreneur," mostly in marketing and technology.
Bratch estimates the revamp would draw as many as 7,000 well-paid jobs to the city and carry a ballpark cost of $250 million to build.
The proposal responds to the city's call in 2016 for developers' ideas on how to reinvent the south parking lot area, which includes elevated walkways and concrete piers. The former Canadian Football Hall of Fame building is on the eastern edge of the parcel.
In the document, the city says its "real property interests could be leveraged for broader community-building initiatives as well as present opportunities for value maximization through strategic repurposing, consolidation or disposition."
If realized, Bratch's redevelopment would be next to the YWCA to the east on MacNab Street South. The heritage Central Elementary School is due south across Hunter Street. A host of apartment buildings cluster the surrounding Durand neighbourhood.
The proposal's renderings, by Hamilton-based Lintack Architects Incorporated, also includes a three-level, 250,000-square-foot plaza that would house a grocery store.
The plan features atriums with garden walls, a top-floor auditorium with views of the city, meeting spaces, cafés, an indoor running track and skating rink.
Bratch said the "technology and medical innovation centre" would find synergy with the work McMaster Innovation Park is already doing.
If approved, construction on the parking structure and one tower would move forward in 24 to 36 months, he said. The second tower could be built in the next five or six years.
"I have engaged with pension funds, and other large institutional organizations," Bratch said about potential investors.
"There's a ton of money that's looking for a home, and they want to support projects like this, so I'm quite confident of that."
A staff report before Wednesday's general issues committee found there was 5,598,287 square feet of office space in buildings 5,000 square feet or larger in the downtown area as of the last quarter of 2019.
Of that total, 667,720 square feet was empty, which made for an 11.9 per cent vacancy rate. That was 0.8 per cent lower than 2018.
"This is the first time since 2011 that the office vacancy rate has dropped below 12 per cent and is a good indicator of improving economic conditions in the (study area)," the economic development report states.
The survey also counted 26,305 jobs, an increase of 0.7 per cent for 186 more positions since 2018, in the area bounded by Queen Street to Victoria Avenue, Hunter Street to Cannon Street, James Street North to the CN railway, and James Street South to Charlton Avenue.
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