Developer pitches hospital condo plans to city

The former St. Joseph's Health Centre hospital site could soon be home to new condominiums.

The city has received a development application from Panoramic Properties, a company that hopes to start building a 190-condominium complex that would also include a restaurant, a wellness centre and more.

Nearby resident Walter Shewchuk said he isn't happy about the condo proposal.

"It'll inflate the volume of people around the area," he said. "The park will be overused by the people residing there and, as far as I'm concerned, there's no particular benefit for that unit to be built. I feel like moving out when I hear about the condo going up."

The building, alsoformerly known as the General Hospital, can be seen from the front step of his Paris Street home. Shewchuk moved to this particularhouse 10 years ago because of its closeness to the hospital.

A spokesperson with Panoramic Properties said the company hopes to work closely with neighbors like Shewchuk during the city's public consultation period.

"We're looking at setting up some other private venues so that we can have some informal meetings with the neighbours or with other groups that are going to be affected by the development," said Michael Allen, the project architect.

Allen estimated that, with city approval, the condos could be up-and-ready within the next two-and-a-half years.

The companys current pitch to the city involves keeping much of the existing building intact with a few changes.

"Our plans and design will be a completely new facade on the building," Allen said. "We certainly are going to use as much of the original structure as we can. It's going to be a whole new look.

Allen said all condo parking will be contained on the site itself.