Condo showroom on the bay: Hamilton councillors will debate future of waterfront restaurant
The city is proposing to lease part of the Discovery Centre as a showroom for a Pier 8 condo project while council considers the future of the star-crossed public building.
The largest chunk of the prominent centre and its popular waterfront patio has remained vacant since the acrimonious departure of Sarcoa restaurant in 2017.
The future of the $10-million building that originally hosted the federal Marine Discovery Centre has been hotly debated, with the site variously pitched as a city museum, library branch, boutique hotel or extension of the planned Pier 8 condo development.
A report going to a city subcommittee Monday recommends council sign off on a strategy framework" to decide the building's long-term future - eventually.
The report suggests starting an opportunity study" this year that would include public consultation, with a final recommendation not expected before 2023.
In the meantime, city staff recommend leasing the empty former restaurant space to Waterfront Shores Corporation, the consortium that successfully bid for the rights to build a community of 1,500 condo and townhouse units on the former industrial pier owned by the city.
The short-term lease, which could last up to five years, envisions a condo sales, presentation and construction office in nearly 10,000 square feet of space formerly housing Sarcoa restaurant - although it is not yet clear when actual home construction will begin on Pier 8.
Council will also eventually have to weigh in on a proposed 45-storey tower as a neighbour for the Discovery Centre.
Under the proposed lease, the centre's washrooms, theatre, harbourside patio and conference rooms would remain common-use" space that can be booked by groups or used for city-sponsored pop-up" events like beer gardens and craft markets.
Those type of events, combined with the expected opening of Copps Pier promenade around the water's edge of Pier 8, should offer year-round animation opportunities" for the area, the report says.
Councillors will consider reports on the short- and long-term future of the building at a virtual meeting at 2 p.m. Monday.
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com