Councillor wants City Motor sign revamped for east Hamilton housing project

The City Motor Hotel in Hamilton's east end is long gone, but a councillor hopes to showcase its nostalgic" sign as part of a subsidized housing project planned for the site.

I promised somehow, some way, I would bring it back to life," Coun. Sam Merulla said Friday.

A decade ago, 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.

Before its downhill slide, the 55 Queenston Rd. hotel was a landmark where Tiger-Cats stayed before heading to Ivor Wynne for games, he said.

The hotel was demolished, but the big No. 7-shaped sign was stored in a public works yard.

I knew how nostalgic that sign was," Merulla said.

The idea isn't to keep the words, City Motor Hotel Restaurant," but rather maintain the structure and rebrand it.

The intent is to have the sign functional," Merulla said, noting it would relay information relating to the CityHousing complex that's built there.

The Ward 4 councillor's pitch for the Queenston traffic circle project heads to the public works committee Monday.

The motion asks that public works and CityHousing staff explore the suitability" of a refurbished sign for the future complex.

The project, including consulting services, design, refurbishing and site preparation, would draw on up to $150,000 in Ward 4 capital discretionary funds.

Excavators are digging up earth at the roughly two-acre property to prepare the site for environmental work.

The first phase of the $21.6-million project calls for a six-storey, 40-unit building, which CityHousing hopes will be open for tenants in the summer of 2023. It will have 25 one-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom units.

The rent-geared-to-income apartments are meant to replace subsidized single-family and semi-detached homes CityHousing has sold in the east end and Mountain over the years.

A second 50-unit building is also part of the plan for the Queenston site.

The project is one of a few the municipal housing provider is undertaking as part of a strategy that involves selling assets to fund new builds with a focus on mixed-income communities and private partnerships.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com