City reviews economic development options for parking lots
Aerial view of lot 4 and 5 in the downtown
In January, staff are holding a workshop for city council to explore development options for Lots 4 & 5 in downtown Burlington. Lot 4 is on Elizabeth/John St, facing Village Square. Lot 5 is on Brant Street, facing the Queen’s Head pub.
The city previously issued a Request for Expressions of Interest in developing Lot 4 as a prestige office site with additional underground parking. Two bidders came forward. That process came to a halt when McMaster University expressed interest in the site for a satellite campus. Subsequently McMaster relocated to a lot along the QEW.
I’ve asked staff whether the RFEI could be reissued, and approaches made to the original bidders. The workshop will explore a variety of options for the sites and go from there.
The public are welcome to sit in and listen, but as a workshop delegations from the floor are not permitted.
My Take: I’m pleased we are revisiting the potential for these lots. Lot 4 in particular has potential for office and underground parking development, which would bring much needed jobs, and foot traffic to the downtown, during the day, year round. This would help our local businesses and bring economic benefits to all residents of our city.
What’s your view? What would you like to see on Lots 4 or 5 in downtown Burlington? Please leave a comment below or email me at
November 27, 2011 @ 1:27 am
Condominiums . I do not shop downtown as the number of cyclists on the sidewalk scare me.
November 26, 2011 @ 10:13 pm
Far too many spaces have disappeared under development. Is it possible to expand parking under the hydro tower lines? Don’t build more office space on what little is left of parking. As for transit, it is far too inefficient from Aldershot to use it to reach downtown.
November 22, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
Underground parking typically runs around $40K/spot, so a 125-car lot would run you around $5m. The assumption at that point would be that whatever’s sprouting out of it would be at least that expensive, perhaps 2-3 times that expensive, which usually necessitates a healthy population density for the footprint, and probably 6-8 storeys (look at the Team Burlington Offices, for example, or Wellington Terrace). Then there’s the fact that the lots are filled to capacity serving existing demand at existing local businesses, thereby necessitating (a) greater underground parking capacity; (b) higher parking fees; or (c) some combination of (a) and (b). It won’t be cheap, but pretty parking never is.