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“With a small boundary adjustment, if that helps with a $45-million, 150-unit development, I think that would be a good decision to make,” the mayor said Tuesday.

The boundary adjustment goes to council’s planning, heritage and economic development standing committee next Tuesday. The six-storey project would also require zoning bylaw changes and CIP approvals before construction could begin, probably in 2019.

“It only makes sense to do this,” said committee member and Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt, arguing that the boundary adjustment really incorporates a single block — the east side of Crawford from Wyandotte to University Avenue — that should have been included from the start. The fact a developer is seeking an expansion speaks to the CIP’s incredible success, he said.

“It’s really turned into a game-changer,” for the downtown, he said. “It looks like that one missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle and I think we’ve found it.”

They keep rolling in … it’s almost like popcorn now

Piroli president Rob Piroli said that, without the incentive plan, his project probably wouldn’t make sense. “It’s very viable for that area, but it’s a very large development, so it will take some time to fill, which is why the tax abatements are so critical,” he said.

“It would be too costly to carry without the incentives.”

Piroli said the project will follow the pattern the company started in 2014 when it invested $140 million to build two Seacliff Heights seniors apartment buildings and a retirement residence in Leamington.