The facility will be located on surplus land beside St. Joseph Hospital’s West 5th Campus (pictured bottom right). The property currently hosts seven structures, including Century Manor. Photo credit: Google Maps
The Ontario government announced on Tuesday, March 22 that a new long-term care home will be built on the Hamilton Mountain beside St. Joseph Hospital’s West 5th Campus. The land, just west of St. Joseph’s, is the site of the former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital at 290 Fennell Avenue West.
According to the plan, 256 long-term care beds will be created. The property is surplus government land which is being sold on the condition that a portion of the site is used for long-term care with the possibility of complementary residential development.
“Our government is fixing Ontario’s long-term care system, and building a new home like the one that will be built on this site is a key part of our plan,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “By selling unused provincial lands, more seniors can stay in their community, close to family and friends, while getting the quality of care they need and deserve.”
The move is part of the Surplus Provincial Lands program, a commitment by the Ontario government to build more than 30,000 net new long-term care beds by 2028, particularly in large urban areas of the province where unused land is both rare and expensive.
As of December 2021, more than 39,000 people were on the waitlist to access a long-term care bed in Ontario. The median wait time for long-term care applicants in Ontario is 105 days.
The government has begun the process to sell five surplus government properties so far, all with the requirement that purchasers develop and operate long-term care homes.
CBRE Inc. is managing the sale. A two-stage offering process will be used. An offer deadline will be set, after which interested parties will be asked to submit site proposals. Offers that fulfil the transaction’s minimal conditions will be evaluated, and a shortlist will be invited to submit final offers. The government hopes that the land will be sold next winter.
There are currently seven structures on the site, including Century Manor, the final intact structure from the 1884 “Hamilton Asylum for the Insane.” The structure is protected by a provincial heritage classification, however it is in poor condition and is frequently broken into for exploration by trespassers. Heritage advocates are worried about what the sale of the land means for the building.
The province says that the sale of the land will have “heritage preservation requirements” for the site’s new owners, but it remains unclear what the exact plan is for Century Manor.
In 2020, the Ontario government issued a ministerial zoning order (MZO) that overruled municipal zoning to allow long-term care and residential towers up to 18 storeys to be built on the property.
A previous plan for the site to be sold to Mohawk College was cancelled when the Ontario PC Party came into power in 2018.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. 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 from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
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.
