Behind closed doors last Friday, Windsor city councillors weighed the pros and cons and voted to kill the Global Village project on the former Grace Hospital site.
Mayor Drew Dilkens said after three years, councillors weren't confident shovels would be in the ground any time soon.
"I think it's fair to say that we gave [Fairmount Properties] a lot of latitude," he said.
Last month, Randy Ruttenberg, the principal of Fairmount Properties, told WindsorNewsToday.ca that the project was progressing. Fairmount had reached affiliation agreements with St. Clair College and the University of Windsor to co-market student housing. It also had a letter of intent with a major operator of healthcare practice groups to lease space in the development. Ruttenberg said the company hoped to have most of the agreements in place in the new year and to start construction by the end of 2023.
Supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, higher interest rates, and increased construction costs have delayed other projects in the city, including the affordable housing project on Meadowbrook Lane, but Dilkens said this was different.
"Fairmount had an agent in Windsor on its behalf, and the rezoning, the record of site condition, a lot of the pre-work required could've already been done even with the border closed," he explained. "It didn't happen."
Dilkens hopes the city will issue an Expression of Interest either this month or next to find a new developer for the site. He doesn't think it'll have to wait long. New incentives from the federal and provincial governments, such as removing the HST from purpose-built rentals, make it easier for projects to get off the ground. The city also offers incentives through its Community Improvement Plan, and demand for housing is up.
"Any developer building units now, especially in the mid-price range, are selling those units," said Dilkens. "We want to move quickly. As council said to move forward with the new Expression of Interest, they also said let's undertake the required rezoning and the record of site condition ourselves, so when we do choose a new proponent, we'll be ready to go."
The Expression of Interest will be open for 90 days.
Dilkens hopes the new proponent will maximize housing but include a mix of retail and other services.
Dilkens doesn't anticipate a lawsuit. The city and the developer never had a formal contract.
"We had a Memorandum of Understanding," he explained. "We didn't have anything signed and sealed. We had nothing binding."
As for the city's experience with the Ohio-based developer, Dilkens said from the city's point of view, there are no hard feelings. He hopes Fairmount will find another parcel of land in Windsor to build a scaled-down version of its Global Village concept.
"I've seen what they built with my own eyes in Cleveland, and they build good product," he said.
* With files from Maureen Revait.