Stuart Hult, whose family has been rooted in Kingston since the 1800s, is alarmed by the changes he sees in the city’s historic core. Hult says he feels “sick to [his] stomach” every time he drives downtown.
Hult is referring to the newly approved 25-story apartment building set to be constructed where the GoodLife Fitness currently sits on Wellington Street. He describes the building as conspicuous and argues it detracts from the city’s historic landscape.
“These buildings are obtrusive, they’re taking away our horizon, they raise temperatures in urban settings,” Hult says. “Putting up high-rent apartments is not going to provide attainable housing.”
Hult says he believes these developments alter the cityscape’s integrity.
“Getting the variances on Princess Street from the last IN8 development was the first stepping stone to the further ruination of Queen’s Street and that,” he adds.
In response to concerns about the new additions, Mayor Bryan Paterson assures that the goal is to enhance the downtown core rather than diminish it.
“I think that there’s a balance and so at the end of the day we can have a wonderful historic downtown core but we also need people living in that core to be able to sustain the vibrancy that of course we all know and love,” Paterson says.
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The mayor also notes the challenges of appealing development decisions.
“It would’ve been a lot of legal fees, a lot of time and money, but at the end of the day you’re going to see that project go forward anyway, so I think it’s just something we need to accept.”
Darryl Firsten, president of IN8 Developments, says that the “elephant” in Kingston is the housing shortage and that’s what IN8 is trying to fix by adding this apartment building.
“Take a leap of faith on this one. It’s worked in a lot of other major cities and most other major cities in the world and it will make this city better,” Firsten says.
Hult is concerned about “who” it will make the city better for; it’s residents or developers. But, he agrees that Kingston needs more places for people to live. He just wishes it was more affordable and less conspicuous.
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