That three-storey dark glass and steel box on top of Jackson Square has been mostly empty since the Bank of Montreal moved out close to 17 years ago.
Yale Properties leasing manager Jocelyne Mainville says she’s had plenty of inquiries about the space that features 14-foot-high open spaces and soaring windows opening onto a rooftop terrace.
But she wasn’t going to hand it over to just anyone.
“This is right at centre ice for us. It’s the nexus of the downtown,” she said. “I was intentionally holding on to it for the right tenant.”
McMaster was the right tenant, she says.
The university and Yale signed a conditional deal Wednesday that will see 4,000 students a year and 200 staff take over the 50,000-square-foot building. Mac’s continuing education department, its financial services division and parts of its university advancement and institutional research and analysis departments will have to move out of the former courthouse at Main and John that became its Downtown Centre 13 years ago.
That city-owned building will become a courthouse again, handling provincial offences because those functions are being squeezed out of the John Sopinka Courthouse across the street.
The Jackson Square building, now referred to as 1 James North, but long called the Bank of Montreal pavilion, is the perfect fit for Mac, says Roger Couldrey, the university’s vice-president of administration.
The square footage is just what’s needed, the area provides plenty of amenities and it offers a highly visible, stand-alone building Mac can makes its own, he said.
“It’s just a great location. It’s arguably the best corner in the city.”
Couldrey worked out of the building for about six years in a previous job with BMO. It was built as part of phase one of the downtown mall and finished in 1972.
“One of the great advantages there is that it overlooks the terrace on Jackson Square. I’ve always harboured the desire to see that used more extensively.”
Mainville hopes the deal spurs more action at the east end of the mall. The west end has seen lots of new arrivals - Nations, Anchor Bar, The Worx, Yuk Yuk’s among them - and renovations of existing tenants and mall facilities.
The adjacent Robert Thompson building is also essentially full and bustling with the city’s public health department and some public school board staff moving in.
Now it’s time for the James Street side, she says.
“For us, this is exactly what we wanted to see. There will be new people coming through all the time. I say that every time someone talks negatively about Jackson Square, they haven’t been here in a while.”
Glen Norton, the city’s director of urban renewal, is also celebrating the deal.
“I love what students bring into an area. They add energy and vitality on the street because they are people there with a purpose.”
He hopes other learning institutions will follow Mac’s commitment to staying downtown.
Mohawk College spokesperson Jay Robb says the college congratulates Mac on its new home. He said Mohawk is focused on its $80-million Fennell campus renewal.
“As always, Mohawk remains open to potential opportunities to set up shop in downtown Hamilton.”
The city has given Mac until Jan. 1, 2015 to vacate 50 Main St. E.
Couldrey says the move will happen in stages, but it’s a tight deadline.
“We’re hoping for some latitude from the city if that’s possible.”
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