Hamilton deal to develop film production hub and housing on vacant lands is cancelled | CBC News

A sprawling film studio and residential plan once touted by the developer as having “captured the public’s imagination” about what was possible for the vacant downtown site will not go ahead. 

Coun. Cameron Kroetsch announced Tuesday that the agreement between the city and Aeon Studio Group for development of the Barton-Tiffany lands has been mutually cancelled.

He said on social media that the “difficult decision” was made because of a combination of factors including high interest rates and slow growth in both the land development and film and television industries, of which Aeon Studio Group is a part. 

There were also “several site-specific issues,” although Kroetsch didn’t elaborate and noted details remain confidential.

The general issues committee was set to meet behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the matter privately. 

Aeon, which develops and operates film and television studio space across the city, did not respond to a request for comment.

Aeon had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the city in 2019 that it would purchase the municipally owned lands and develop them. The lands are near where Aeon already owns and operates Bayfront Studios on Queen Street in the city’s north end. 

Hub promised as ‘1st of its kind in Canada’

In a presentation in November 2023, Aeon’s co-founder Jeff Anders updated councillors on the project that, he said, aimed to “achieve something special.” 

Across multiple blocks along Barton Street West and Tiffany Street, there would be a “first of its kind in Canada” media-arts production hub, affordable studio space for artists, parks, theatres and galleries, plus 750 residential units, some of which would be affordable to rent or own, he said. 

“This is a good news story, a city building opportunity that’s captured the public’s imagination,” said Anders.

Aeon had also already commissioned environmental studies of the contamination levels to determine what remediation would be required. 

“All of this in pursuit of a site we still don’t even [own] because we believe in the vision and we are determined to see it through,” Anders told the general issues committee in 2023.

At the time, councillors expressed their support for “large, visionary, transitional projects,” as Coun. John-Paul Danko described it. 

Coun. Cameron Kroetsch, who represents the ward, said he was hopeful the development would transform the otherwise vacant area. 

Land sitting vacant for years

The city had bought the Barton-Tiffany lands about 15 years ago to make room for a football stadium that ended up being Tim Hortons Field, built in a different location. 

“We tore down all the residential housing to have a stadium there, then we didn’t have a stadium there, and then we let the land literally sit and rot forever,” said Kroestch. 

“I’m grateful we’re going to have a chance to have folks living there again and have some vibrancy in the neighbourhood.” 

In recent years, people who are unhoused have pitched tents and set up trailers on part of the lands.

By December, part of the lands will soon become a temporary outdoor shelter with over 100 tiny cabins. 

As for the rest of the area, the city is developing “a new long-term strategy … that will benefit all residents,” Kroetsch said on Tuesday.

Another Aeon partnership also recently fell through. Along with Centre[3], a non-profit arts organization, it had been subleasing affordable studio spaces for Hamilton artists on Harriet Street.

When the building’s owner Forge & Foster sold it this summer, the artists faced a surprise eviction.