CAMBRIDGE — A developer has proposed a three-storey apartment building across the street from the former Silknit factory in Hespeler, transforming a half-acre lot where a gas station once stood.
Plans for the apartment building at 212 Queen St. W. include one-bedroom and two-bedroom rentals and an underground parking garage.
The developer, Blackthorn Development Corp., wants to rezone the property from residential and commercial to multi-residential, and to allow greater density at the site.
This part of Queen Street leads right into Hespeler Village, an area that is ripe for revitalization because the city has identified it as a section where land-use changes are expected in order to facilitate growth.
The half-acre lot was formerly a gas station and is currently vacant except for existing trees and vegetation. There are 24 trees on the site, and half of them will be removed to make way for development.
Blackthorn Development has also proposed a green roof and outdoor green space.
Access to the site is proposed via Winston Boulevard on the east side of the property, which will lead directly into the underground parking garage and to the surface spaces at the rear and side of the proposed building.
A mix of townhouses, single-family homes, commercial and industrial-use buildings exist in this part of Hespeler. Across the street, the former Silknit factory is also pegged for redevelopment into a mixed-use residential and commercial block with a waterfront trail.
There are a number of developments either underway or proposed in and around the Hespeler core, including a mixed-use proposal on Guelph Avenue at the Forbes Estate property that will consist of apartments, townhouses, single-detached houses and two estate homes.
Cambridge council will host a public meeting about this proposal on Dec. 14.
