Grey & Wellington St. / 18 floors / 262 units

[kaiserLDN]

Looks good to me. This area needs these buildings. Our entrance to the downtown via Wellington isn't that great.

http://www.london.ca/business/Planni...pplication.pdf

[TheBostonBoy44]

Love the scale and look of this building. When I was in school I always thought the Wellington/Horton area had so much potential. Glad to see that these kind of projects are coming up.

[GreatTallNorth2]

I love it too, would be great to see some street level retail in here too.

[Braille_User]

My fear is that this project is 4 doors down from one of the purposed safe injection sites - I wonder if tenants will be hard to come by (the social housing building where the SIS might be located is... incredibly shady). Agreed that this area is highly in need of development. Full disclaimer: I live within 1km of this proposed project and I have a vested interest in seeing it built.

[jammer139]

Hopefully this project has a real developer behind it. The area is ripe for new projects especially around the hospital lands.

Only gripe is it should be taller being on Wellington Rd. 18s is to short.

25s plus would be better. Hell Tricar had a 22s proposed tower on Ridout St.

Any info on the developer?

[UpstairsCranberry]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Hopefully this project has a real developer behind it. The area is ripe for new projects especially around the hospital lands.

Only gripe is it should be taller being on Wellington Rd. 18s is to short.

25s plus would be better. Hell Tricar had a 22s proposed tower on Ridout St.

Any info on the developer?

Tricar is one of the City Planner's favorite developers. So they can propose something that is way above the London plan. But is that 22 storey tower downtown? 18 storey is beyond the proposed Official Plan's bonusable height for rapid transit corridors - max 16. And that is only within 100m of a station. The proposed station is at South Street.

[jammer139]

Any sign that site prep has started for this project?

https://www.london.ca/business/Plann...-10Resolet.pdf

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Any sign that site prep has started for this project?

https://www.london.ca/business/Plann...-10Resolet.pdf

Isn't this the one where Family Circle restaurant is? I haven't noticed that the restaurant has closed yet.

[Braille_User]

No work done/started yet. The restaurant is still operating and the boarded up homes that require demolition on the site are still standing and untouched.

[inimrepus]

This project is cancelled. The purchaser requested an extension on payment and the owner of Family Circle refused. They remodeled the interior and refreshed the menu.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...-8ba4be7570e8/

[jammer139]

Sounds like this JAM developer doesn't have the deep pockets to make a project like this happen. They couldn't close the sale. Not much chance they were going to get financing to build it.

[Braille_User]

I walked past yesterday... the boarded up homes are horrific. With this project not going forward, which I am profoundly disappointed about, I hope something is done with those homes. I would be very happy if they were demolished - they are an incredible eyesore in our neighbourhood.

[Djeffery]

I find it hard to believe that JAM couldn't come up with the cash. I know who they are and the various large profile projects and businesses they have on the go. Writing a check wouldn't be an issue for them, I'm thinking they soured on this residential project and decided to walk away. JAM is also the company that recently demo'd the City Heating building on Queens.

Funny though, I did see the sign a couple days ago when I drove down Wellington where it said they had a new look and I thought it was weird they would have a new look if they are closing.

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by Braille_User

I walked past yesterday... the boarded up homes are horrific. With this project not going forward, which I am profoundly disappointed about, I hope something is done with those homes. I would be very happy if they were demolished - they are an incredible eyesore in our neighbourhood.

Couldn't agree more. I had drivers Ed in the 4th building, which I think is owned by someone else. It was disgusting enough, I couldn't imagine the other 3 homes.

[jammer139]

LFP analysis - https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...-f40c001c8138/


My sense of JAM is they are a property management company and not a developer-construction company.


If and when the hospital lands get developed into high density in the future the Wellington corridor needs to see development as well. Irregardless of what the locals may want for Wellington it will be developed. How far east and west of the road the development happens is only a matter of time over the coming decades.

[Djeffery]

The A is Archie Leach, and the M is Marth, his daughter not sure who the J is. I don't know where JAM fits in Archie's rather significant portfolio of companies, but I know some of the things he has and is involved with. He's the main backer behind the Kelloggs development (with his partners the Mclaughlins of Tillsonburg), and also redid the old Harmony buffet building on Talbot and York. He also owns many industrial sites around town, including the former Siemens plant on Adelaide South. He also has done a lot of work on old buildings in downtown Kalamazoo Michigan and been behind a significant turnaround with their downtown. Unlike someone like Farhi, Leach actually gets things done. While a residential tower is something that I think is new to his business (I mean, I don't know for sure, maybe he has done some elsewhere as well), I have no doubt he has the means and know how (and connections) to get it done if he wants.

[jammer139]

Properties were just sold.


147-149 Wellington Street, 253-257 Grey Street
type Mixed commercial / residential property (future development)
price $9,015,554
seller Named individuals
buyer Space Rider Corp.

[CanadianTalk]

There was a minor variance application heard at the Committee of Adjustment meeting on April 13, 2023 (requesting a slight increase in density, parking space reductions, etc.)
details: https://london.ca/newsroom/public-no...-march-23-2023

Reminder that the zoning change was already approved a few years ago.

Also, here is a project page from Zedd Architectures with renderings: https://www.zeddarchitecture.com/22-012.

No idea who "Space Rider Corp" is or what resources they would have to finance this (compared to larger developers like Tricar, Old Oak, etc), but the fact that a minor variance application was recently heard at committee, gives me hope that this proposal is still a go and will eventually be constructed some day. This would be a great addition to the area.

[jammer139]

I don't have much confidence this Space Rider Corp has much in the way of development experience or history based on this recent article.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/threat-of-...oper-1.6351528


I could be wrong but I can't find any previous history of building anything. More likely they are a land speculator like others we have seen in the city who spend a few thousand dollars to get a property rezoned and use that to flip the property for a tidy profit. They have no intentions of ever submitting a detailed site plan application or a building permit as that requires serious cash to hire an architectural and structural engineering firm and securing a general contractor. An artist rendering is not architectural diagrams and are cheap to get.

[johnnyhamont]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Also, here is a project page from Zedd Architectures with renderings: https://www.zeddarchitecture.com/22-012.