A London chiropractor is working to rebuild the city core, one vacant lot at a time.

On Tuesday, B. J. Hardick won approval from the city’s planning committee to build a six-storey apartment on mostly vacant property at Waterloo St. and Central Ave.

But he already has a new project to work on, having just bought the vacant lot at Talbot and York streets, the former site of the Brunswick Hotel.

Hardick said he doesn’t have any immediate plans for the Brunswick property that he recently bought for $700,000 via a numbered company, but it won’t stay vacant.

“I believe we can have beautiful development downtown. It’s a prime site close to all the places where I like to be downtown.”

A residential development with ground-floor commercial is a possibility for the Brunswick site, Hardick said.

Downtown London has made great progress in drawing residential development, but is now at a crossroads, he said.

“Now is the time for decisions. Will the city keep investing in the core or will it be a suburb-based community?”

Hardick operates a chiropractic practice founded by his father in 1971. It has been in a Victorian building on Queens Ave. since 1976.

The Brunswick Hotel dates to 1855, but was demolished in 2008 after a fire, frustrating efforts to have it declared a heritage ­building.

hank.daniszewski@sunmedia.ca

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