McMaster University recently announced via a press release that it is considering a proposal from a company called s2e Technologies to transform the former Hamilton Spectator building at 44 Frid Street in West Hamilton into an innovation hub with a “modern data centre.”
McMaster Innovation Park purchased the former Hamilton Spectator building back in 2020 and originally announced plans for labs and office space, but that proposal never materialized.
Earlier in 2025, McMaster issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) to receive submissions from companies on how the building can be used.
The submission from S2e Technologies was selected by McMaster for further study.
The proposal would see the site become “an innovation hub with a modern data centre that could support emerging research and business computing needs, including artificial intelligence.”
The concept would also include “flexible collaboration space” and the new data centre would reportedly be designed to “meet increasing demand for advanced computing resources.”
McMaster and s2e have entered a “due-diligence period to examine the building’s potential,” and both parties note that “no final decisions have been made.”
S2e is reportedly continuing to assess “community and stakeholder needs, environmental and regulatory requirements, and technical and financial feasibility” for the project.
If they determine that the project is feasible, then s2e would prepare a formal proposal for consideration, and any final decision would have to be approved by McMaster’s Board of Governors.
S2e is hosting a series of information sessions to gather input from campus stakeholders.
Those interested in any of the sessions can email spectator@s2etech.com.
S2e is based in St. Jacob’s, Ontario, north of Waterloo and was incorporated in 2006, co-founded by Milfred Hammerbacher and Carlos Fernandez.
The company was initially involved in large-scale solar energy projects before branching out into “building sustainable communities” and “developing sustainable sovereign, Next-Gen AI Data Centres that enable innovation for enterprise, academia, and the public sector.”
Their Next-Gen AI Data Centre Development division launched in 2024 and is meant to “advance sustainable, Canadian-built infrastructure to power the future of AI efficiently.”
It remains to be seen if the proposal will ultimately move forward.
S2e’s website can be found at www.s2etech.com.
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.
