A major development could be on the way for the former GM Trim Plant in east Windsor.
Shmuel Farhi, of Farhi Holdings of London, owns the land just east of Lauzon Rd., south of McHugh St. and just west of the WFCU Centre.
The company has applied to the city's Brownfield Redevelopment Improvement Plan — a request approved by the city's Development & Heritage Standing Committee.
Plans for the land include 119 detached residential lots, 48 townhouse units, a seven-storey hotel and nearly eight acres of commercial land.
Consultant Karl Tanner says his client wants to get moving on the project as soon as possible.
"We're going through the planning process right now for draft plan of subdivision, official plan amendment and zoning by-law amendment," says Tanner. "We're hoping to have that scheduled late spring, early summer and we would be in a position to start the development immediately. If we could, we would be in the ground by this fall."
(Kristylee Varley/AM800 News)
Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt voted in favour of the projects, saying he supports redeveloping the city's brownfield sites, including this one.
"People look for clusters of things to do, people look for clusters of amenities, whether it's restaurants or entertainment facilities," he says. "So finally building onto the WFCU Centre is incredibly important for its viability."
Since the WFCU Centre opened in December of 2008, there have been discussions surrounding the development of a hotel somewhere near the arena in the city's east-end but Tanner can't say when the planned hotel would go up.
"I don't have answers on that but, obviously, Mr. Farhi owns a number of hotels in the City of Windsor and if there's a market and a demand for it he would build it immediately," he says.
A hypothetical phasing schedule provided to the development committee estimates the project taking upwards of 10 years to fully complete.
Through municipal and provincial grants and incentives, the developer could be eligible for anywhere between $6-million to $12-million dollars.
City council will have final say on the brownfield redevelopment request at a future meeting.