The building is the solution, not the problem.
That’s the motto architect Robert Ritz is bringing to an open house on the Grand Trunk site Nov. 25 at the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans Hall, starting at 7 p.m.
Ritz will share a possible solution for the site to residents, which is to keep the former CNR shops building on the property and use it to host a new police station, a larger facility for the library, and a bigger pool and change rooms for the YMCA.
There will be time for feedback, also.
“If we develop it, we don’t have to deal with it anymore. The trick is how to do it without affecting the taxpayer,” said Ritz.
“The building is going to be an income generator from the facilities going into the building. You pay for parking in the building, and that income finances the cost of the park and garage, but also the deck of the expanded mezzanine level.”
He described the vacant building as a tenant space waiting for a tenant to show up.
The building was used for steam locomotive repair from the 1870s to the 1960s, but has been empty and decaying for decades.
A master plan is in the works turning the site into a vibrant community focal point.
City council voted to keep a portion of the site’s steel structure.
“We got $27 million in that site, and if you tear the building down, there’s about 11 acres of land to develop because of the 30-metre-wide easement for the railway and what’s already been developed. You got to take the university and bus transit hub out of that,” said Ritz.
“Let’s say it’s 10 acres instead of 11 for quick math, it’s $2.7 million an acre for dirty land, and you can’t sell it unless it’s clean, so are we going to throw more money at it to clean up because right now, I don’t think any developer will look at that if it was clean because it’s just too much.”
The building could lead to minimal disturbance of existing lands and more creative parking plans that encourage downtown housing density.
Feedback will be incorporated into the plan and presented to city council.
