McMaster Innovation Park plans residential towers
McMaster Innovation Park hopes to build three residential towers to help foster its west Hamilton research campus overlooking Highway 403.
We need people living here, working here, playing here," Frances Grabowski, vice-president of development for the Longwood Road South innovation park, told city councillors Wednesday.
The residential buildings would spur restaurants, cafes and other amenities that will breathe life into the campus, which is a dead zone" after 5 p.m., Grabowski said.
McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) - which is home to businesses, labs and offices - is planning for 524 residential units in three buildings of 14, 22, and 26 storeys on the property, a city staff report notes.
Zoning for the site allows for residential uses on the employment lands that amount to eight per cent of its overall gross floor area and a maximum of two buildings. But MIP's plan for three buildings would hike it to 15 per cent.
City staff support that proportion but recommend holding the residential buildings to two and keeping them at the northeast part of the site to separate them from noisy uses in the south, such as the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre.
But MIP needs the flexibility" to be able to determine where its residential component goes as it expands over the next five to 10 years, Grabowski said.
MIP can't be handcuffed" with a two-building limit in one cluster, added architect Drew Hauser of McCallumSather. Let them locate it where it's smart for their site."
The innovation park has global competition with research campuses like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he said.
Without a residential component, MIP will fail. Hauser warned. And it's a $2-billion investment that can't fail,"
Grabowski said the residential space would be for a range of people, including visiting researchers or members of the general public. MIP is also working with the YWCA, she noted.
Council asked staff to work with MIP representatives on policy that would allow for more flexibility to accommodate its residential goals.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger said a residential component was always part of the MIP vision.
It's about creating dynamic, innovative collision space for thoughts and ideas."
Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com