Condo development boom in Hamilton

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Another new condo project expects to break ground in Hamilton this year. It’s a boom in a market that seemed non-existent just a few years ago.

The city says Hamilton has the last bit of waterfront in the GTA that has yet to be developed. The condo is called Tiffany Square. The developer plans to break ground this year, and have it move-in ready by 2018. It’s one of many condo projects on the go in hamilton right now

The empty lot between Tiffany and Bay Streets has been in Raquel Rakovac’s family for decades, and they’ve wanted to develop it ever since they shut down the auto-wrecker that was there. When the Rheem factory was next door, the neighbourhood was mostly industrial. Then there was the stadium debate “…we took part in that and proposed a multi use stadium. However, we got lucky because we’re building a condo”. The 8 story Tiffany Square promises vibrant waterfront views with a downtown lifestyle.

Jason Thorne is Hamilton’s head of planning and economic development. “There’s a lot of new condos. It’s exciting, we’re looking at over 2000 new condos in the downtown… a few years ago there weren’t any. That was a housing form that just didn’t exist”. The condo projects going up in Hamilton now are very diverse. Some, like Tiffany Square are being built from the ground up. Others, like the Stinson School, are being renovated from existing historic buildings.

Realton Scott Bouman says people have been living in the Stinson Lofts for about a year, and only a few help-back units are left for sale. He says its an exciting time “its very much a hot market. There was a significant lack of people moving into the city, and now we have a shortage of properties…several buyers for every property that’s listed.”