Call it a last stand, forlorn hope or a daring
piece of out-of-the-box thinking. But there's a move afoot to
build the new federal building at the Lister Block after
all.
That idea officially bit the dust in December when the
federal government chose the parking lot across from Copps Coliseum
as the site for its new office tower.
But since then, informal discussions have taken place about the
possibility of the Hi-Rise Group of Toronto, which won the
bid to build and lease space to the federal government,
transferring the contract from its site at Market and Bay
streets to the Lister Block.
The scheme is being pushed by Jasper Kujavsky, vice-president of
development with Canderel Stoneridge Equity Group.
Canderel, along with the Labourers International Union of North America
(LIUNA), was behind the losing bid to get the office
tower built at the Lister Block on James Street North.
The decision not to build at Lister stunned downtown supporters.
They were counting on the redevelopment of the historic building
and the consolidation of more than 1,000 federal office workers
to be a catalyst for reviving the ailing core.
But clearly the matter hasn't died. Kujavsky confirms he's held
informal talks with LIUNA, which owns the Lister, senior officials
with the ministry of public works, and Heritage Minister Sheila
Copps's office about the possibility of re-thinking the site. Source.
