A $360-million, large-scale condo project planned for downtown Hamilton is promising a major boost to the city’s urban renewal efforts.

Television City, a residential and retail community to be built on a one-acre site downtown Hamilton’s 163 Jackson St. W. — home to CHCH TV station — is the project of Toronto’s Lamb Development Corp., in partnership with Movengo Developments.

The enterprise will consist of 618 condominium units in two connected towers that will be 30- and 40-plus storeys tall. The heritage Pinehurst Mansion will remain on site and be preserved.

Brad Lamb, CEO of Lamb Development Corp., has built projects in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton and now says he’s excited about Hamilton’s potential. For years, he’s been making annual overnight visits to the city to take in the arts, food and development scene.

He says that about two years ago he noticed the city, forged on an industrial past shaped by the steel industry, begin to develop a new identity as a creative and tech start-up centre. Home prices in Hamilton were up by 17.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 over last year; the average home price is just over $450,000.

“Hamilton is cool,” says Lamb. “The people who live there knew it, I knew it and now a lot of people from the outside are saying it’s cool.”

Restaurateur Michael Cipollo agrees. “The city has a lot of hip, cool professional people with new ways of thinking and that’s really what’s driving Hamilton.”

Cipollo, 42, who spent 14 years working as a chef for Toronto’s Bier Markt, wanted out of the corporate restaurant world to start his own business. So he and wife Paula opened a gourmet burger and craft beer restaurant, Hambrgr, in downtown Hamilton two years ago and moved there with their three sons. They have since opened a second Hambrgr and another downtown restaurant, Fsh & Chp.

“There a culture and yearning here for people to express themselves,” says Cipollo.

Lamb intends to honour Hamilton’s creative vibe with a design-driven project at Television City. Peter Clewes, of architectsAlliance, has designed the buildings and interiors are by Kelly Cray, of Union 31. Landscape designer Janet Rosenberg will create the outdoor spaces and park.

“We are going to refurbish and update the Pinehurst Mansion,” says Lamb of the historic home that is the headquarters of CHCH television station. Built in 1850 by businessman Tristan Bickle, the mansion has been declared a “rare surviving example of pre-Confederation stone construction” by Hamilton’s heritage department.

Lamb says development plans will also see them “do a park that will be public space . . . The condo buildings are also beautiful, and we have made a big effort to put in the right amenities for the building and the area.”

Television City’s common spaces will include a Skyclub with party room and dining facilities, lounges and indoor/outdoor space. As well, an infinity pool, fitness centre, child’s play centre, dog yard and washing station, and a tech centre.

“I go to New York a lot and noticed in most hotels with large lobbies, there are people with their laptops out, having a drink or coffee and working in groups,” says Lamb. “If you live in Television City, you can go to the tech centre and work in this fashion. It will be a place to meet and collaborate.”

While no units are available for purchase yet — the sales centre is expected to open in September — Lamb says his office has received 1,000-plus inquiries. Prices will start in the $220,000 range.

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Cipollo, who spent years in Toronto and the GTA, says he and his wife spent $750,000 for their Hamilton home — the same price they sold their Newmarket home for — that is twice the size and much newer.

“We are not burdened by the GTA grind like we used to be,” Cipollo says. “Commuting used to take up to two hours one way and those were hours we lost with our family. A lot of people who used to work with me in Toronto are now working for me here. They saw a better life for themselves here. You can live for a reasonable amount of money. I can walk wherever I want to go, to cool coffee shops and retail stores. That’s made my life better.”

Both he and Lamb contend that Hamilton is to Toronto, what Brooklyn is to New York.

“Brooklyn long suffered under the desirability of Manhattan and is now a highly desirable place to live,” says Lamb. Like Brooklyn, Hamilton has “an industrial base and great industrial, historic buildings which are beautiful to convert,” and is evolving into an area of culture, entrepreneurship and tech start-ups where people want to live.

TELEVISION CITY

What: Mixed-used condo project with two connected towers, 40 and 30-storeys plus, 618 units in all, and a retail component. Heritage mansion to be preserved on site.

Where: 163 Jackson St. W., Hamilton

Who: Lamb Development Corp. and Movengo Corp. Architect: Peter Clewes, architectsAlliance. Interior designer: Kelly Cray, Union 31.

Suites: Studio, one bedroom, one-plus-den, two bedrooms, two-plus-den, three bedrooms and penthouses

Prices: Expected to start in the $220,000s

Information: lambdevcorp.com