Developer shut Hamilton's City Centre a year ago for 'epic' condos. That plan's on hold indefinitely

When Hamilton's City Centre was shuttered nearly a year ago, the developer said demolition would begin within weeks to make way for an "epic" four-tower condominium project. 

But 12 months later, the boarded-up mall and its signature clock tower remain standing. 

IN8 Developments has paused the project, and demolition, until the real estate market improves, company president Darryl Firsten told CBC Hamilton this week.

"We don't want to leave a hole in the ground," he said. 

There's no new timeline, Firsten said. 

When construction begins on the 2,000 units depends on "macroeconomics," such as when the Bank of Canada will drop interest rates and make mortgages more affordable, he said. 

Once IN8 is confident it can sell about 400 units at the pre-construction stage, it'll demolish the mall. But right now that's "overwhelmingly not going to happen," said Firsten. 

"In the meantime we will continue to refine our design and make it better," Firsten said. "It's going to be an amazing project."

Across Canada, developers are building fewer homes despite a desperate need for new housing. A recent study suggests higher interest rates, set by the Bank of Canada to combat inflation, are partly to blame. The rates, currently at five per cent, translate to higher borrowing costs for both developers and potential home buyers, and make building riskier, said the report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

IN8 advertises the "state-of-the-art mixed-use destination" as an "epic transformation" on its website. 

Last year, Firsten told CBC Hamilton the project is estimated to cost more than $1 billion and take close to a decade to complete. 

At that time, the city had conditionally approved the project and IN8 closed the mall to the public on Dec. 31, 2022. Shop owners, some whom had been there for decades, were told to vacate by early January.

The City Centre Pharmacy was among those. Manager Nicole Fioravanti said IN8 gave them two months' notice, but it felt like a scramble. 

"They rushed us all out and shut off the lights just after Christmas," Fioravanti said on Tuesday.