McMaster has found a new home for its Downtown Centre after hearing from the city that its current building, the old Wentworth County Courthouse at 50 Main Street East, is needed again for municipal purposes.
Roger Couldrey, McMaster’s vice-president, administration, told the public about the find.
“We are pleased to announce that McMaster is taking over more than 50,000 square feet of space at 1 James North, right at the corner of James and King,” he said in an interview with the Daily News.
McMaster will be leasing the entire building at 1 James Street North—an office building on top of Jackson Square mall.
“I think it’s a great location. It’s one of the best corners in downtown Hamilton, and is a stand-alone building that we can make our own. It allows us to contribute once more to the rejuvenation of downtown Hamilton,” said Couldrey.
More than 200 staff members and 4,000 students will continue to use the new Downtown Centre.
Most service units from the current DTC will be making the move to the new building, while a few others will be implemented into the Medical Health Campus that is currently under construction and set to at open at the start of 2015.
Financial Affairs—who overseas investments, purchasing, accounts and treasury—and Advancement—the office responsible for fundraising and donor relations—will be making the move to 1 James North, along with the office of Institutional Research and Analysis and the Centre for Continuing Education.
Some of the research units will be packing up for McMaster Innovation Park, while the Regional Medical Associates will be making their own arrangements for new space.
The new lease was signed after negotiations between Yale Properties and the University, through Strategic Procurement and Facility Services.
“It is a long-term lease, not indefinite but long-term,” said Couldrey. He continued, “we are not making the details public. The University will be investing quite substantially in fitting out the new space.”
The 50,000 square feet at the 1 James Street North property is a smaller space than the current DTC but Couldrey doesn’t see it as a problem.
“The DTC was built as a public building, a court house, and is very spacious. The new building will be designed to normal office standards. By virtue of the multiple parties moving [elsewhere] we actually have a need for less space,” he said.
Thousands of students and hundreds of staff transitioning to 1 James North will have to find a new place to park.
The building is in a convenient location for access to public transit but those who drive to the DTC will have to pay for parking under the building or in a nearby lot.
McMaster hopes to make the move in late 2014 and early 2015, permitting a lease extension on the 50 Main Street East building.
“The City originally gave us notice to move out of the DTC building by Dec. 31 2014. We have asked for an extension and are hopeful that a small extension will be possible. We are planning the move accordingly,” said Couldrey.
McMaster has operated out of the Downtown Centre for 13 years.
McMaster will be forced to relocate its Centre for Continuing Education from its 50 Main St. E. outpost after being told by the city that it must vacate the building by 2015.
The space is known for formerly housing the Wentworth County municipal courthouse and will be reclaimed by the City, which will cough up $32-million to renovate a building they had planned to sell for $5.6 million.
The expensive revamp and changing of the guard is necessary because of overcrowding in John Sopinka Courthouse, just down the street.
Lack of space in the courthouse has forced the City to find a new home for provincial offences offices and courtrooms by August 2017 when they have been asked by the province to pack their bags and leave.
After much debate, it was decided that the City would be best off reclaiming the building which McMaster has been leasing for approximately $180,000 per annum since 2000.
“We can stomp our feet about it all we like, but ultimately what I’m hearing is this is the cheapest option,” said Councillor Chad Collins (Ward 5) at a general issues committee meeting Wed. Jan. 22.
Such a move poses an “aggressive timeline” and will affect the 200 staff members and 4000 students who make use of CCE each year, said Gord Arbeau, Director of Public & Community Relations at McMaster.
“Relocating all those components to a new location is a complex move. What we’re trying to do right now is work with the city to gain an understanding as to their timelines and try to put together a process where we can move as quickly as possible,” he said.
Arbeau was quick to point out that university services will not be disrupted as McMaster is close to announcing a new location, pending final negotiations with the city. He could not specify the nature of the building, but was hopeful that the deal could be finalized in a timely fashion.
“As we finalize plans on this new downtown location, we are certain that the University and the city can make arrangements to ensure that the move is handled in an effective and efficient way,” he said.
With neither of the moves being particularly appealing to either party at this moment, Arbeau says that the university is disappointed they didn’t purchase the building when they had the chance.
“Thinking about the future of the building, our preference had been to purchase it. But that offer expired several months ago,” he said.
McMaster is also building an $84-million downtown health campus, which will play host to the City’s Public Health Services as well as the university’s departments of family medicine, and continuing health sciences education.
Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
The McMaster Downtown Health Campus project began in 2007, and experienced a standstill soon thereafter. The goals of the University and the City of Hamilton, however, remained unchanged.
The City of Hamilton is looking to revitalize the downtown core, which may be accomplished through the establishment of an innovative medical facility, which will increase access to quality healthcare in the area while attracting cutting-edge talent to the city. McMaster has also expressed an interest in expanding its presence in the city, and is under considerable pressure to increase its residency spaces in family medicine, a feat that would require expansion beyond the confines of McMaster’s main campus.
The project gained momentum again in 2011. The timeline for the revived project anticipated completion of the project by 2013, with construction to begin in January 2012.
“As the University has been finalizing the purchase of the site, a transaction that is now essentially complete, a great deal of pre-construction work has been underway,” said Gord Arbeau, Associate Director of Public Relations for McMaster.
Construction is now set to begin in the spring of 2012, with an anticipated completion in 2014.
Currently located at 100 Bay St. is the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board office. With McMaster’s transactions largely complete, the relocation is awaiting confirmation on the agreement between the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and the City, “on the space it will occupy while it builds its permanent education centre,” explained Arbeau.
Meanwhile McMaster is eagerly awaiting the new beginning on the horizon. “All the teams and departments that will relocate to the health campus have been actively involved in planning their moves, providing guidance to the design team and working to make sure we are on track,” said Arbeau.
The project is an enormous undertaking for the City of Hamilton and McMaster. It will see 4,000 students and approximately 54,000 patient visits each year, as well as 450 full-time employees.
The new building will house McMaster’s Department of Family Medicine, the Shelter Health Network, the Women’s Maternity Clinic, as well as research and continuing education programs through the Faculty of Health Sciences.
“Among other things, the McMaster Health Campus will provide both important learning opportunities for the students of many health professions, as well as an innovative family health clinic for Hamilton citizens,” said David Price, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine for McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
