A plan to build housing on city land near West Harbour GO Station in the north end continues to be stalled, approximately 10 years after units were first vacated.
The property, which previously had 91 affordable CityHousing Hamilton units, is set to be home to 132 market stacked townhouses, two high-rise apartment buildings with 46 to 210 affordable units “depending on funding obtained,” and a high-rise with 300 market units.
It is located at 405 James Street North and is known as Jamesville.
However, in 2022, CN Rail (CN) filed an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) regarding the development, saying that since the project is close to their shunting yard, they are concerned that residents will have issues with noise, odours, and vibration.
CN Rail says that they support the project, but that they want specific mitigation measures in place.
It is unclear exactly what measures CN wants, but Daniel Salvatore, their Senior Manager of Public Affairs, wrote in an op-ed in The Hamilton Spectator that includes examples such as the creation of buffer zones, designing buildings with noise and vibration protections, and installing sound barriers where needed.
Meanwhile, the city says that they have already put forward plans for proper measures, but that CN has declined them.
In both 2024 and again in 2025, it appeared that the city and CN were near an agreement, but no settlement was ever reached.
In January 2025, the city applied for a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) from the province, seeking approval to move forward with the project despite the OLT appeal.
The city is still awaiting a decision from the province on the MZO application.
In the meantime, a 10-day OLT hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 10, 2026, in case the MZO is not approved.
Additionally, in September 2025, the city officially moved forward with the demolition of the 91 vacant units at the site.
At the time, Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said that she believed approval of the MZO was imminent – that was three months ago.
Now, demolition work at the site is essentially complete.
CityHousing Hamilton, the Jamesville Redevelopment Limited Partnership (FRAM + Slokker, Melrose Investments Inc., Marz Homes and DeSantis Homes), and Indwell are all involved in the project and are waiting to hear about the MZO.
The City of Hamilton website says that 46 units on the property will be owned by CityHousing Hamilton and 114 will be operated by Indwell, with the rest privately owned.
In total, the development is expected to have 475 units.
The path forward remains to be seen.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
