The city’s plan to transform Hamilton’s waterfront from a hodgepodge of parking lots, trails and buildings into state-of-the-art parks, condos and shops is expected to generate millions of dollars in taxes.

When the entire West Harbour redevelopment is completed, stretching from Bayfront Park to the HMCS Haida, it will add $9 million (in 2017 dollars) to the city’s revenue every year, said Chris Phillips, municipal land development office manager.

He spoke at the West Harbour Development Sub-Committee meeting on Friday.

“This land has never generated a dime of municipal taxes in its entire history,” Phillips said. “From when it was built in the 1930s as landfill up to today in city ownership.”

The plan, made up of multiple smaller projects, will take another 15 to 20 years to finish and cost the city $140 million, said a staff report. The city is currently focused on developing Piers 5 to 8.

Some projects are done including Copps Pier at Pier 8 and shorewall, fish habitat and public boardwalk at Piers 6 and 7, Philips told councillors and Mayor Andrea Horwath.

Gateway Park at the entrance of Pier 8 will open by the end of this year, he said. And a public plaza, public art space and waterfront access at the end of James Street N. will be done next year.

Developer getting ready to sell units

The Pier 8 section of the development spans more than 12 hectares, with room for 1,645 residential units and 70,000 sq ft of commercial space. Phillips estimates once the project is complete it will have generated $1 billion in private-sector investment, as the city will sell 42 per cent of the land for development.

“It’s important to remember that while there will be some private development that happens on pockets of Pier 8, the rest of it is in complete public lands and owned and controlled by the City of Hamilton,” said Phillips.

Waterfront Shores Corporation is the site’s developer and will be renting part of Pier 8’s Discovery Centre as a sales centre  in the coming months, said Andrea Smith, the city’s senior development consultant. It will rent the space for the next five years.

A 45-storey condo tower is one of Waterfront Shores’s proposals for the site. If approved by council, it would become the tallest building in Hamilton.

As previously reported by CBC Hamilton, some residents are against the tower because it will obstruct views, cast long shadows and increase traffic.

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