A group of local developers is looking to give new life to a historic building in downtown Windsor.
Dino Maggio is with St. Clair Rhodes Development and says the group is proposing a $2.7-million makeover for the former Fish Market at the corner of Chatham Street West and Ferry Street.
The plan includes main floor commercial use with as many as 11 loft residences on the upper floor.
Maggio says, with several owners over the past number of years, the building has become an eyesore.
"We're hoping to be the catalyst, the first guy on the block to come up with a great building and hopefully people will follow. Of course, now we're going to go out and we're speaking to several tenants as of right now. The hope is that we're going to complete the project by the end of this year."
He says this development would do a lot for the neighbourhood.
"It's a little bit out of my realm. I normally don't do these type of developments. I'm usually into a lot of other things, but my partners felt very strong about starting something for downtown and I agreed with them. So here we are."
156 Chatham St W in Windsor (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)
Maggio says he's taking a gamble, but he's confident the development can be a success.
"The top floor, I don't think we're going to have a problem in leasing out the lofts because we're doing something of a special nature. There's really not a lot of them. But the main floor, I don't really want to comment on that yet. There's several things that are in the works and we do have a lot of interest on that main floor."
The plan is eligible for up to $475,000 in tax incentives through a number of city programs to help redevelop the downtown.
The proposal has gotten the go ahead at the committee level and will now go before city council for final approval at a future meeting.