What is being pegged as the most contaminated field in the community has caught the eye of Drewlo Holdings, a family-run enterprise based in London.
The developer has acquired the 20-acre site, stretching south and east of Memorial Arena and is proposing to construct six rental buildings with between 1,800 and 2,000 housing units.
To the delight of St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston, who is all smiles at the prospect of another brownfield undergoing rehabilitation to add sorely needed rental units to the city’s housing inventory.
Site preparation at the highly contaminated property has been underway for some time and includes full environmental remediation.
We have requested an interview with a Drewlo representative and, in the meantime, spoke with Mayor Preston about the repurposing of the former railway yard, shop, and turntable.
Preston observed, “If we’re contributing towards brownfield redevelopment in our Community Improvement Plan, and the province is also now contributing against a tax bill kind of thing, it starts to layer on top of each other to make it affordable to do some of these great projects.”
He cautioned there are still a couple of hurdles to clear, paving the way for construction to begin later this year.
With the area roads being two lanes, we asked Preston about possible congestion in the neighbourhood.
“Both the shadow studies and the traffic studies don’t show issues,” he assured.
The site borders the Whistlestop Trail, offering an active transportation corridor leading to the downtown core.
Preston reminded, “We put two apartment buildings at the end of Moore Street in Alma College, right? That’s basically a one-way street with two large apartment buildings on it, and we really have not seen a traffic issue because of the variance in time when people leave for work and come home from work.
“And of course, we have transit that runs out to that corner, too. So when you can start layering the different levels of transit, walkability, you know, active transportation, then you really win.”
It is very early in the planning process, and few details are available on the building height and layout on the property.
“Well, I don’t think they’re going to build symmetrically, suggested Preston. So some six stories, some eight stories, some 14 stories to make it work.
“And in some of the affordable apartment discussions we’ve had with them, we’ve been flexible on the number of floors that they can give us, more affordable units if we’re allowing another floor to go on. And so those discussions continue to take place. And I don’t think they know where they’ll end up.
“Look, they’ve done an excellent construction-type job. They are very good as a company. Let’s give them the time to do what they need to do to finish what will be, when it’s built, the biggest complex in our community.
“You know, as I’ve said, housing in our community is a crisis and needs to be filled, and this will help fix it.”
Written by Ian McCallum
