3 Key Hamilton Stories You Need To Know

Hello Real Estate Investors in Hamilton Ontario!!

The image to the left is appropriate for a couple reasons: Melissa is returning today from a well deserved vacation in Punta Cana with her mother and I’m scrambling to clean the house and prepare a Valentine’s Dinner at home.  Also, there are some newsworthy stories from the past that keep coming up in my discussions with Hamilton real estate investors so here goes!!

Mohawk College Renovation Turns the College Around: full story here and here. Or read on for my summary and analysis:

• Mohawk is a college in transition as the $14.5 million construction project to build the new Centre for Learning, Entrepreneurship and Innovation which opened in Nov 2010
• This was the first stage of a $30 million expansion and upgrade to the Fennel Av Campus (West Hamilton Mountain) to a more welcoming place to live and learn by creating more communal space for students to meet, collaborate on projects, and eat all in an environment with all the latest in wireless technology.  All of this and generate space for thousands more students
• Fennel Campus: Fulltime students: 7,400; Apprenticeships: 1,000; with thousands of more students to come?!!?
• Do students need a place to rent? You bet they do and there is plenty of demand to rent rooms at 350-430 per month per 12 month lease… if you have a nice property that is.

$1 Billion Dollar Development of St. Joseph’s New Psychiatric Hospital: full story here or keep reading for my summary and analysis:

• $1 billion to be spent over a 30 year period to build and operate a new hospital on the West Mountain (just North of Mohawk College)
• the new hospital is about double the size of the existing hospital at 74,000 sq meters and 305 beds vs 37,000 square meters and 175 beds.
• Again Hamilton is moving away from a manufacturing economy and taking another step in becoming a leader in Health Sciences
• short term, expect demand for rentals from blue collar trades and construction types, middle-term you will see more housing demand from the white collar health care workers
• Maybe you should go take a drive around the neighbourhoods surrounding the hospital?

Hamilton’s City Council Votes Unanimously for Ivor Wynne Deal: for the full story go here or please keep reading for my summary and analysis:

• Ivor Wynne stadium has been named the location of the 2015 Pan Am Games by the City council and are working to sign a 20 year lease with the Tiger Cats (professional Canadian Football League team)
• Pan Am Toronto 2015 CEO Ian Troop will have the final say if Hamilton will be awarded the stadium which should be this week
• I’m already seeing some inflated prices for properties in the neighbourhoods surrounding IWS.  Is this speculation?  They have not even broken ground yet and no one knows what other investment or transportation improvement is going on in the area…
• Sad to see a missed opportunity to revitalize the downtown/West Harbour, strengthen the business case for a James North Go Station and downtown LRT station but I’m glad this is over so the city can refocus on GO and LRT now.