Bridgewater will have shovel in the ground the first weeks of 2016 - finally - project was first approved in 1985.

By Pepper Parr

September 21, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Part 1 of a 2 part feature.

The day any one of the Bridgewater developments is opened – you may not see much of Jeff Paikin – he will be quietly walking from location to location polishing a door knob, picking up a piece of scrap paper or chatting up one of his neighbours.  Paikin is not only the builder of the three structure project – he is also the owner of one of the condominium units

The project has been in the works since at least 1985. Paikin wasn’t the designer, the vision wasn’t his but a series of circumstances dropped the project into his lap and he is like a kid with a new toy.

The Bridgewater is going to be a sterling project – because that’s what Paikin builds.

The Gazette was taken on a tour of the sales office – parts of which are a built to scale of several of the rooms that will be located between the 9th and the 16th floor.

In the middle of the sales office is a very large model of the project which gives a great view of what the buildings will look like and how they will impact the city.

And they are going to impact the city.

Let’s start from the outside and work our way in – the sales office will be used for a Christmas party being given for the people who have purchased units – this will be a very high end – someone who is being asked to pay more than $3 million for the top floor of the 22 storey condominium – those are big bucks – and you don’t serve those people peanuts and cheap beer.

When the party is over – the sales office gets taken down – not by a bulldozer – it was built to be taken apart, stored somewhere and used again.

Days later – the shovels go into the ground.

Expect it to be the photo op of the century for Burlington.

Elizabeth Street as it is today – it will be re-graded but still steep. The entrance to all the parking and lower access to each building will be at the bottom of this grade.

There won’t be much seen by the public for a couple of months once the cameras and the television people leave the site.

The project is going to have four floors of underground parking including a level that vehicles will come into at grade – but that grade will be at the bottom of Elizabeth Street.

You can just imagine what kind of a photo op the putting of shovels into the ground is going to be. If the Mayor does a selfie – we hope it is better than the one he did on the bus several months ago.

While the Bridgewater is being constructed, just a three minute drive to the west the Joseph Brant Hospital expansion and re-development will be going on. Burlington actually has cranes on the skyline these days.

The Waterfront hotel is in the process of going through a design exercise that may see the existing hotel torn down and a much higher structure going up (more than 28 floors?) along with two smaller structures that will be located south of the current foot print.

The decision as  to what can be done south of the current hotel sits in the hands of the Conservation Authority.

The design exercise has the city ordering up two designs and the owner of the property putting forward his own preferred design.

The view from the steps of the Bridgewater sales centre has two cranes on the horizon lifting buckets of concrete as the redevelopment and expansion of the Joseph Brant Hospital progresses. The Waterfront hotel in the foreground is in a redesign stage.

Those three projects, the hospital, the Waterfront Hotel and Bridgewater  will result in a downtown core that most people in this city are not aware of and many may not be ready for – but they are coming.

We step inside the sales centre – this is a “by appointment only” operation, you realize you are in what amounts to a two bedroom unit that is lavishly decorated by Brian Gluckstein. Everything is real not a piece of plastic in sight.

In part two of this feature we take you through the layout of the rooms and the design features – expect to see this location in one of the higher end design magazines.

When we last met with Jeff Paikin he had five sales situations in the pipeline – three of those came through and last week he booked $3.1 million in sales. Very nice.

The first thing you see at the sales centre is a large model of the project – “that cost $40,000” claims Paikin. It could have – it is big enough.

When the sales centre gets taken apart the model gets tossed – the Gazette has some ideas for that. Stay tuned.

The grade from the street level to the walkway at the edge of the lake is steep – quite steep and must have been a challenge to the landscapers.

In order to keep open space for the public to enjoy between the hotel and the condominiums several sets of stairs are in place at the south end – they look steep.

There are several ramps for those who don’t want to manage the stairs and there is a nice winding pathway on the east side – that is already in place.

What the public has not seen is the layout and design of the court yard outside the rear of the hotel and between the two condominiums – one on the east – 22 storeys and one on the west – 7 storey’s.

Set out below are several views of the model.  There is a reasonably sized reflecting pool in the courtyard area.  Paikin said it was something the city wanted – he didn’t seem to have much enthusiasm for the thing.

It isn’t clear yet how much of the court yard space is going to be fully public and how much will be allocated to the hotel for what will be a lovely outdoor cafe – if such a things is included in the court yard.  The hotel, which was originally going to be a Delta Hotel got upgraded to a Marriott when the two operations were merged some time ago.

If the stairs at the south end prove to be too daunting there is a lovely winding path down the eastern side of the 22 storey condominium.

At one point there was talk of some of the lower level condominium units opening out onto that walkway.

The winding path down the east side of the Bridgewater development may prove the easier to navigate.

The walkway is in place now – it was part of a property exchange with the city that included the promenade at the south end that continues on into Spencer Smith Park and eventually into the Beachway Park.

People will be able to have a breakfast in the fresh air overlooking the lake and then walk right through to the canal on the western border of the city.  We just might be getting close to what Hamilton has in their waterfront.  Some sculpture will be needed at some point.to the

Contrary to rumours being floated around, Jeff Paikin did not buy half of the top floor of the 22 storey condominium; he has a unit in the 7 storey condominium on the west side of the site.