The city is currently reviewing a proposal to construct several multi-storey apartment buildings on a long vacant property in Owen Sound.
An official with Owen Sound’s planning department confirms an application from Hansa Financial & Property Management, a Toronto-based company that owns 1144 1st Avenue West, is currently under city and agency review for site plan approval.
The developer is proposing to build six, four-storey apartment buildings with 224 units in total. The application also includes plans for the construction of an amenity building at the site, and 280 parking spaces.
The proposed residential development at the former Black Clawson-Kennedy property is subject to a rezoning for removal of a holding provision.
Hansa Financial has owned the eight-acre property — located just west of the harbour across from the parking lot of the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre — since 2004.
The city approved a $10,000 landscaping & property improvement grant in November, the maximum amount available through the Community Improvement Plan program. Hansa Financial’s grant application included a proposal to have the site professionally landscaped at an estimated cost of more than $287,000, planting more than 120 trees, over 900 shrubs and nearly 1,000 perennials.
A staff report explains the proposed landscaping is part of a broader redevelopment plan for 1144 1st Avenue West, which will include the six new apartment buildings.
The subject property was the site of the former Kennedy Foundry, which was founded in 1856 by William Kennedy and sons. The report explains fishing, passenger, freight and pleasure crafts were manufactured at the foundry.
“The operation reached its zenith during World War II as Black Clawson-Kennedy (BCK), where propellers for Canadian-built ships were cast,” a report by Owen Sound’s junior planner Jacklyn Iezzi explains. “Production at BCK continued until 1996, when the operation closed its door forever.”
Bayshore Broadcasting News reached out to Hansa Financial for comment on its development plans, but did not receive a response by publication time.
A planning report, record of site condition, site plan and traffic impact study have already been submitted to the city as part of the application.