McMaster Innovation Park buys Hamilton Spectator building | CBC News
McMaster Innovation Park has bought the Hamilton Spectator building for $25.5 million.
Innovation Park CEO Ty Shattuck said the tech hub needs more space and the nearby Spectator building was an attractive opportunity to help it fulfil its plans for expansion.
He said it plans a major renovation of the building that will take up to three years to complete as it looks to create a space suited for life sciences companies.
While the design of that renovation is being done over the next year, Spectator staff will continue working at the current location as it searches for a new home.
Said Shattuck about the purchase: “We’re out of space, we fit at 99.3% occupancy, it is similar in Toronto, so we have long been looking at how do we create more space for life sciences companies.”
Shattuck says, “think of a pharma (pharmaceutical) company or a drug discovery company or a company that has discovered a new molecule or drug and is looking to setup shop. These companies require very expensive and specialised lab space and structure.
“It’s not something you can do in your parent’s basement.”
The new Frid Street addition to Innovation Park is only a short distance from the Park’s Longwood Road South location.
Shattuck said MIP is hoping to attract larger companies, further along in their development than start-ups.
“In particular there’s a real shortage of space for the larger, what we call ‘mid-market’ life science companies.
“The kind of companies we’re talking about are not start-ups, they are well-financed companies…. and they are going to need large facilities and space for each company.”
Shattuck says the work at the old Spectator building is only one part of the broader development going on at Innovation Park.
Thrilled to attend <a href=”https://twitter.com/MIP_Hamilton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@MIP_Hamilton</a>’s announcement that they have acquired <a href=”https://twitter.com/TheSpec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@TheSpec</a> building as part of their expansion efforts to further enhance innovation capacity. Congratulations on another step towards becoming the #1 research park in the world! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/HamOnt?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#HamOnt</a> <a href=”https://t.co/b0oAZzqDhK”>pic.twitter.com/b0oAZzqDhK</a>
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“We have announced our plans to fully develop the park we have. We currently have 700,000 square feet of space and about 800 full-time workers.
“When we are finished, we will grow to about 5,000 full-time employees and 2.5 million square feet of space. That includes the Spectator building.”
Despite the inevitable departure of the Spectator from its 45-year-old home, Paul Berton, the paper’s editor-in-chief said he thinks it’s a positive step.
“I think its exciting for the community. The Spectator building is storied, its iconic, its kind of symbolic of the community we are and the kind of work we do and they will continue that tradition quite well.”
Berton said “no announcement has been made yet,” on the future home of the paper.