Television City towers appealing potential rezoning rejection

City planners are recommending rejecting the rezoning of Television City — a 40 and 30 storey twin tower at Jackson and Caroline — after concerns of the skyscrapers being too tall.

If you’re not familiar with the area, the proposed site sits on the grounds of the former television studios of CHCH. The same corner also houses the historic Pinehurst Residence, which will be integrated into the project.

The first tower is already sold out and meets the city’s goal of intensifying downtown Hamilton. The issue city planners have is that they consider this as “over intensification”; too large for the area it’s located within.

Many two-storey buildings are located around the site and since Television City has no height transition, the skyscrapers will really stand out.

Additionally, the two buildings would be taller than the escarpment.

Combined, the twin towers have 618 units, plus four ground-floor commercial spaces. There’s also 397 car parking spaces and 500 spaces for bicycles.

But developer Brad Lamb rebuttals by stating that if new buildings only fit with the ones next to it, nothing would ever get built. He has a point.

It seems most people are looking for a middle ground. Build the towers, just scale down the height.

But since the city’s draft downtown secondary plan only allows for 12 storeys in that location, a substantial scaling back of the original proposal would certainly turn off the developer from seeing this project as worth it.

As a result, Brad Lamb has preemptively appealed the project to the Ontario Municipal Board before next week’s vote at council has even happened.

Any decision committee members make Tuesday will have to be ratified by city council on March 28.

What are your thoughts on this project? Excited? Upset? Let us know in the comments!

Header image provided by Television City