Developer of 509-unit twin towers in downtown Oshawa seeking financial incentives
Published September 13, 2022 at 4:34 pm
The representative for a high-rise building project that promises to bring “new life” to downtown Oshawa was at Monday’s Development Services Committee, hat in hand hoping for a few tax breaks from the City.
Committee approved one of the requests from Medallion Corporation, said they’d put in a good word to Durham Region on the second and denied the third ask, so it wasn’t a total loss for the developer, who plans to build 22-storey and 10-storey market-value rental buildings at the old Fittings Plant site at 135 Bruce Street.
The two towers, containing 509 units to be built on the north-west corner of the 24-acre brownfield property, would be the first phase of the project. When it’s all built out the property will contain 2.145 apartment units and 96 townhouse units with office and retail space on the ground floor. The project will also include the extension of Eulalie Street.
The site itself has been vacant since 1987 when the plant (which manufactured cast iron pipe fittings for 85 years) went into receivership. Medallion bought the property ten years ago.
Medallion was asking for the City to waive building permit fees – a $650,000 ask that was denied – to help find some brownfield incentive options – a letter of support on the issue will be issued to the Region of Durham – and for an increase in assessment grant of 50 per cent over 16 years, which was granted by committee.
The increase assessment grant will take the grant from $2.1 million to $3.8 million.
The financing requests came under the City’s Urban Growth Centre Community Improvement Plan, who offers financial incentive programs to encourage development and re-development in downtown Oshawa.
“The project is a brownfield site and it has its challenges,” noted Medallion representative Anna Fagyas. “This will help us move forward with the project and give us some security in obtaining further financing.”
“Every dollar obviously counts.”
Fagyas says the first phase of the project will bring “new life” to Oshawa’s urban core and be a “catalyst” for the rest of the project.
“This will be a long term investment for the City and Medallion in the downtown core.”
