New life is taking root in Jackson Square.

Evidence of the change in the 1970s project that was supposed to bring a new vitality to the centre of the city is everywhere. Only 17 of its 230 storefronts are empty; tenants are repopulating the former Stelco Tower; the BMO bank tower that stood empty for almost 20 years is now home to McMaster University's continuing education centre, and a grocery store has returned to the core.

Jocelyne Mainville, leasing manager for the Real Group of Companies, the property's owner, has watched the renewal spread during the past decade.

"When I first took this job my family told me I'd really have my work cut out for me," she said. "It has taken time, but now we have 11 million people coming through here every year."

By the numbers, less than seven per cent of the mall's retail space is empty. Add in openings in the 1.1 million square feet of office space and the vacancy rate for the entire complex, around 274,000 square feet, is about 20 per cent.

That's a far cry from the days of the mid-1990s when the owner threatened to shut down the entire fourth phase and gave 45 rent-free spaces in the mall to non-profit agencies just to get some people traffic in its corridors.

"Our vacancy rate is still a little on the high side, but we're content to hold some of our inventory back right now," Mainville said. "We're really starting to rent out space in the former Stelco Tower, we're getting some serious interest in that tower today."

Jackson Square's rise, fall and revival mirrors that of downtown Hamilton.

In the 1960s the 43-acre parcel at the northwest corner of King Street West and James Street North was a vibrant, but ramshackle neighbourhood housing some of the city's oldest commercial buildings. Civic boosters saw it as an eyesore and launched an urban renewal campaign to replace it.

The development was led by the Real Group of Companies, a joint venture between Yale Properties of Montreal and Manulife Financial. The first phase of the project opened in 1972. It was named for former Hamilton Mayor Lloyd Jackson, who held office during the first urban renewal discussions.

Initially it was a shining success, with former mayor Jack MacDonald declaring to The Spectator in 1977: "If not for Jackson Square downtown would be in a very advanced state of decline. It is vital to the rebirth of the central part of the community."

The picture started to change in the 1980s, starting with the 1981 opening of Lime Ridge Mall with its combination of three department stores and acres of free parking.

The blows followed in rapid succession. Jackson Square's first restaurant, Murray's, closed in 1986; in 1989 the little used skating rink was closed and in 1999 Canadian retail icon Eaton's collapsed, leaving the adjoining Eaton Centre a virtual ghost mall.

At its worst, the Stelco Tower showed a vacancy rate of 69 per cent and a workforce of 303 people, down from zero vacancy and almost 1,700 employees in 1979.

A series of individual developments rather than a megaproject sparked the turnaround of both Jackson Square and the broader city core. Condo projects attracted new downtown residents with disposable income, economic diversification efforts filled empty office space, the openings in the mall of the Nations Fresh Foods grocery store in 2013 and a new LCBO store in 2015 all helped.

"It's not just Jackson Square, it's happening everywhere downtown," said Glen Norton, downtown renewal director for the city. "This is the result of positive, incremental change. No one big development has sparked it, but a number of smaller projects that have caught people's attention."

The Real Group is backing that revival with an extensive program of renovations that includes the installation of new elevators, fire alarms, building systems, LED lights, a colour coding scheme for the parking lot and other work.

"The whole complex is being renovated from the guts to the glory," Mainville said.

Kathy Drewitt, executive director of the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area, agrees those renovations are helping to keep momentum behind the revival.

"They have a done a good job of revitalizing their space," she said. "Council incentives and a lot of other things have helped the downtown, and Jackson Square is benefitting from that."

Mainville said another successful tactic is to attract local independent businesses as an alternative to the mix of national chain stores that populate other malls.

"We'd love to have the national chains, but the independents are an alternative," she said. "They draw traffic because they offer things you have to come here to get, things that aren't available anywhere else."

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One remaining hurdle, she conceded, is how the mall is perceived.

"I think public perception is the biggest hurdle we still have," Mainville said. "People still won't come downtown unless they really have to."



Correction Published: 20160225 - The photo of the Jackson Square building site, published Wednesday, is viewed from James Street North. Incorrect information appeared in the caption. The Spectator regrets the error.