A plan to transform a former east-end elementary school into a community hub is taking shape.
Hamilton city council has given unanimous approval to Coun. Matthew Green’s vision for King George which starts with investing $1 million from a Ward 3 reserve to fund a design and assessment of the Gage Avenue North property.
Green’s vision involves an arts and culture hub by bringing continuing education to the former school, through the Ontario College of Art and Design, as well as a public library branch and an early learning centre.
Green adds that would be located within a city block of the new North Hamilton public high school and the Bernie Morelli Seniors Centre, creating a true arts and culture hub.
He also envisions the construction of affordable housing, in the form of artist lofts or student housing, above the existing school.
Green says, “This project is super exciting because it represents an investment in lifelong learning.”
Sara Diamond, president and chancellor of the Ontario College of Art and Design, says it is also excited by the potential of “providing continuing studies and workshops to support Hamilton’s creative cultural industries.”
King George School closed in 2012, after celebrating its 100th anniversary.
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