Dec. 10, 2021
A rendering of the proposed housing complex at 60 Caledon Ave. - EllisDon photo
The former Mountain Secondary School site on the central-west Mountain could have a new look come 2025.
About 30 per cent of the townhouse and apartment rental units will be affordable housing, and the rest will be available at market rates.
“This is a significant investment in infrastructure in Hamilton,” said Brian Sibley, executive director of Hamilton East Kiwanis Non-Profit Homes.
The two not-for-profit housing groups have formed the Caledon Community Collaborative to oversee and manage the project that includes two, six-storey apartment buildings and about 50 townhouses.
Market rents for the one-to-three-bedroom units will range from $1,296 to $1,690 and the affordable price range is $830 to $1,082.
Sibley said the units are aimed primarily at new families who will pay about 30 per cent of their gross family income in rent.
“Really what that means is families that have an income of say between $40,000 and about $75,000 to $80,000, that’s really targeting young families or people that are on the edge of working poor,” Sibley said. “We have to set rents at a level that are going to make this work.”
The project, which includes a public park on about a third of the site, is smaller than the original 10, then eight-storey apartment buildings and 322 units that were originally proposed.
Sibley said they reduced the number of units following consultation with city planning officials and the public, adding the number of units cannot go any lower without threatening the viability of the project.
A recent online public meeting about the project did not result in any significant changes, Sibley said.
The units will be powered using sustainable energy with net-zero carbon emissions.
The Government of Canada website notes, “Achieving net-zero emissions means our economy either emits no greenhouse gas emissions or offsets its emissions, for example, through actions such as tree planting or employing technologies that can capture carbon before it is released into the air.”
Sibley said they are looking at a number of alternatives to do that, including solar panels and geothermal energy.
Funding for the complex will be done through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Sibley noted about a third of the cost will be covered by the two partners.
“$35 million or so is about 30 per cent of the cost of this whole project will be cash reserves that Kiwanis Homes and Victoria Park have to raise,” he said.
The city purchased the site from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board in 2018. Following a request for proposals, the land was sold to the non-profit housing groups in Dec. 2020.
“From a taxpayer perspective, the city purchased that land from the school board for $5 million and we paid the city $5 million, so there’s no taxpayer money used in terms of this at all,” Sibley said.
If all goes well, construction could begin in the spring of 2023 with completion in 18 months.
But before a shovel goes into the ground, Sibley said they need planning committee and city council approval for a zoning change to permit the development on the site, followed by site plan approval that will take several months.
Sibley said they hope to appear before the planning committee in the spring.
Coun. John-Paul Danko said the city’s objectives for redevelopment of the site were: to support the creation of family-oriented, affordable rental housing; foster holistic community development; showcase excellence in urban design and high-performance building construction and to ensure the new development integrates with the existing neighbourhood.
“The development at 60 Caledon is an exciting opportunity to provide new, high-quality housing designed and priced for working families on the Hamilton Mountain,” Danko said.