St. Catharines City Councillors have cleared the way for a 37-storey tower in the downtown core.
Councillors approved a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) application so that development can move forward on the project at 7 St. Paul Street West / 7 McGuire Street -- just down the street from the Meridian Centre.
The tower will include 478 residential units, rental and retail space, while plan's also include a public space added at the corner of St. Paul St. and Westchester.
Aaron Waxman, the developer of the $200M project says without the CIP, the project would not happen at all.
St. Catharines offers property owners financial incentives to help offset a portion of project costs incurred for redevelopment projects, brownfield remediation and building facade improvement through its CIP program.
St. Catharines Downtown Association Executive Director Rachel Braithwaite says the city needs more residential units, and this fits the requirements for Community Improvement Plans.
Councillor Lori Littleton was passionate about the project calling the current space a 'rock pile' saying it only collects $11,000 in taxes per year while the new tower will net millions in taxes, and improve the downtown core.
"You can have a rock pile or you can have $1.5M, plus the people living here, plus the economic activity from those people, and all the other goods and services and jobs they are bringing --- or you can have a rock pile."
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