Hamilton’s Queenston traffic circle: From City Motor, to rubble, to CityHousing
Cam Gillespie seems only half-joking when he gripes about the overgrown flora on a rubble-strewn lot blocking the view of his business from drivers zipping around the Queenston Road traffic circle.
The weeds are getting higher," Gillespie says from his office in the east Hamilton furniture and mattress store. It's harder to see us on the other side of the street."
The fenced-off brownfield littered with barrels, bricks and concrete blocks has been an eyesore for the residents in the area ever since the city expropriated and demolished the City Motor Hotel in 2013.
The recent public release of a design presenting a colourful, six-storey CityHousing building with 40 subsidized rental units is a reminder of the derelict site's pending transformation after the years-long preamble.
The colours are just meant to be a bright sign of life - lively, bright, bold colours that stand out," says architect Graham McNally, whose firm, Toms + McNally Design, teamed up with Invizij Architects on the project.
The future building has a passive house design, a standard of construction that aims for high energy efficiency.
The windows are smaller and there are no balconies, but there's a large rooftop patio and outdoor plaza that will include a play area.
The current stark perimeter along Queenston - expected to be widened for a potential LRT line while the circle is to be replaced with T-shaped intersection - will also become greener.
We are planting these trees so that they will be able to provide shade for pedestrians and also for the building," says Emma Cubitt, who is with Invizij.
CityHousing expects to start construction on the $21.6-million rent-geared-to-income residence with 25 one-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom units by next summer. The targeted move-in date is summer 2023.
The idea is that development, later to be accompanied by a second 50-unit CityHousing building on the site, can help the car-centred area become more focused on pedestrians, Cubitt says.
I would say that's one of our goals - is being that bridge of the transition of this neighbourhood."
CityHousing has selected a construction manager while studies of site remediation options are underway.
We're getting a lot closer to the finish line. There's no doubt," said Coun. Chad Collins, who's president of CityHousing.
This, I think, is going to be a welcome change for people, so it's a little bit of short-term pain for long-term gain."
The 40 rent-geared-to-income apartments will replace subsidized single-family and semi-detached homes CityHousing has sold in the east end and Mountain over the years.
The traffic circle project is one of a few the municipal housing provider has on the go amid a strategy that involves selling off real estate to fund new builds with a focus on mixed-income communities and private partnerships.
The cash-strapped agency, which has 1,236 properties and roughly 13,000 tenants, faces a multimillion-dollar repair backlog while the city struggles to make headway on a wait list for subsidized units that numbers about 5,200 households.
In its last annual report, CityHousing says it plans to create or replace" more than 580 units over four years.
Gillespie, who works in the mattress store, likes the idea of more affordable housing taking root on the Queenston site.
But he acknowledges the store owner is concerned the taller CityHousing buildings will indeed block the business from passing motorists' view. We hope we're not completely hidden."
Coun. Sam Merulla is focused on the erasure of the old motel - a blight on the community" - in contrast with what's to come.
That City Motor Hotel was the No. 1, 911 response destination on an given weekend."
Merulla used his Ward 4 area-rating funds to have the crime-ridden hotel expropriated and reduced to rubble for about $2 million before selling it to CityHousing.
What a deal if you think about it, considering what we're going to get in return."
The Queenston traffic circle is a turning point for more than one interested party.
Metrolinx bought the property next to the CityHousing land, anticipating it would serve as the eastern terminus of a light-rail line.
A large commercial building that offered a grocery store, pharmacy and gym was levelled.
But in 2017, council opted to extend the future line farther east - to Eastgate Square at Centennial Parkway.
A for-lease sign sits on the Metrolinx property that's thickening with tall grass, pooling with rainwater and fluttering with butterflies.
The parcel was advertised for a short-term occupant but there was no interest," noted a spokesperson for the provincial transportation agency.
The sign will be removed soon; the grass and weeds will be cut, Fannie Sunshine said in an email.
But property requirements for the LRT project are still being assessed," she also noted.
Metrolinx expects to present a draft memorandum of understanding to city council later this summer" for the McMaster-to-Eastgate LRT.
In June, council voted 9-6 to rekindle the controversial, long-planned project that the province abruptly cancelled in late 2019.
That split decision came after the federal and provincial governments' respective transportation ministers in May announced a combined $3.4 billion to cover the capital costs of the 14-kilometre line.
Mitch Cozens, who lives in a small bungalow on the edge of the properties, remembers when the City Motor Hotel was in full swing just a few steps down the street.
It was always busy," he said, referring to drug activity. All hours of the night, people up and down the street here."
Then the bulldozers came. It was peaceful right after."
Between LRT and CityHousing, Cozens acknowledges he's a little fuzzy on the various shifting plans.
But he says a six-storey residential building taking shape on the wasteland to his immediate southwest sounds good.
That might block some of the constant roar of traffic on Queenston.
It will be all right. It'll bring up the neighbourhood, too."
Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com