Metrolinx will start demolishing 21 Hamilton LRT properties next month

Metrolinx will start demolishing 21 buildings along Hamilton's light-rail transit LRT corridor next month, saying the vacant buildings are too unsafe to be repurposed for affordable housing or any other use.

The transit agency said Wednesday that it will start demolishing at the end of November, pending city permits.

While some advocates have said the buildings should be used for affordable housing, Metrolinx says they're too far gone to fix. Some have asbestos and lead in them, the agency says, and it would be too costly to make them inhabitable again. 

Thirty-seven properties will remain standing, Metrolinx says. Some have people living in them, and that will continue. Some are available for short-term commercial lease, and some are "the subject of discussion within the community," the agency says. But the other 21 have to go.

"In the case of one of the properties, the thieves were so determined they actually chiselled out a section of the brick wall in order to break in," said Anne Marie Aikins, Metrolinx senior manager of media relations. "It was like a scene out of a Hollywood-style heist."

Metrolinx purchased the properties along King and Main streets to build Hamilton LRT, a 14-kilometre project meant to run from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. The project is still possible, but it's had some twists and turns.

The city first approved Metrolinx doing an assessment in 2007. In 2015, then-premier Kathleen Wynne announced $1 billion to build the system, which at the time included a spur line along James Street North. The spur line was scrapped and the original route reinstated, and Metrolinx went ahead with the project, including buying full and partial properties.

Announcement coming?

Then in December 2019, Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney cancelled the project, saying cost overruns had made it too expensive. The province then struck a task force to look at the best way to spend $1 billion, and that task force recommended LRT or bus rapid transit (BRT).

The provincial and federal governments have been talking about sharing the cost of Hamilton LRT, and Mayor Fred Eisenberger says he's more optimistic about the project than he has been in years, and expects an announcement soon.

Eisenberger reiterated that again Wednesday.

"I remain optimistic and I am buoyed by the positive tone and assistance the premier has indicated," he said in an email. "We still await the province's conclusions on their review of the project based on the task force recommendations."

Metrolinx says it will send notices to homes and businesses near the 21 properties. Contractors will be prepping the site, the agency says. When the demolition happens, neighbours can expect some noise from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

Housing still needed

Emily Power, a member of a group called King Street Tenants United, told CBC Hamilton in September that she wanted the buildings to stay standing, and for Metrolinx to make them livable again. 

"The homelessness crisis has worsened during the pandemic," she said then. "People need homes and these homes are empty."

Here's a list of the 21 properties:

• 1149-1151 Main St. E.
• 1207 King St. E.
• 1205 King St. E.
• 1201 King St. E.
• 1199 King St. E.
• 1185 King St. E.
• 1183 King St. E.
• 1181 King St. E.
• 1179 King St. E.
• 1175 King St. E.
• 1173 King St. E.
• 1153 King St. E.
• 1141 King St. E.
• 1139 King St. E.
• 1137 King St. E.
• 951-953 King St. E.
• 943 King St. E.
• 929 King St. E.
• 935 King St. E.
• 658-660 King St. E.
• 401 King St. E.