Plans to include a residential development in the transformation of Hamilton’s Limeridge Mall are officially in motion.
Cadillac Fairview’s proposal, which goes before the city’s design review panel on Thursday, is for 320 units within a pair of 12-storey towers on the site of the former Sears store.
A site plan would be the next step in the approval process.
Ward 8 Coun. John Paul Danko says it will be a big but logical change on the mountain.
“It’s the trend that malls across Canada, across the world are going to,” Danko said. “Malls were developed as the original Main Street that was taken indoors, so it really makes sense to incorporate residential back into that, along with commercial and retail.”
Danko said council needs to ensure that the Limeridge Mall plan includes “family-friendly housing, that’s mostly two- and three-bedroom units.”
Conceptual plans have also been circulated by the owners of Eastgate Square for more than 5,000 residential units, mostly within a series of mid-and high rise buildings on that property, which represents the eastern end of Hamilton’s future LRT line.
That proposal, also, must still go through the city of Hamilton’s approval process.