Ottawa clears way for Pier 8 development with Discovery Centre handover

The federal government will hand over the deed to the last piece of Hamilton's waterfront puzzle, The Marine Discovery Centre on Pier 8.

MP David Sweet (Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale) was at the western tip of Pier 8 to make the announcement that the centre would be transferred to the City of Hamilton, allowing the city to take complete ownership of the pier for development.

"I know that members of the Waterfront Trust came to me and said the term of the lease was so short that there wasn't an opportunity to get long term investment," Sweet said Tuesday. "So this alleviates that totally and gives Hamilton the opportunity and see this portion of the waterfront in their bigger picture."

• Vision for Hamilton's waterfront more Halifax than Toronto

The West Harbour development plan, Setting Sail, was set in motion 15 years ago, in the year 2000 when the plan to shift Piers 1, 2 and 5 through 8 would be transferred from the Port Authority to the city. Pier 8 was to be leased to the Port Authority until 2025, but the Marine Discovery Centre, which now houses Sarcoa restaurant, was owned by the federal government and managed by Parks Canada. When the city and Port Authority negotiated an early handover of the pier in  2013, the centre stayed in federal hands.

"When it was in Parks Canada's hands and operating as a Marine Discovery Centre I think that was a great thing," said mayor Fred Eisenberger. "It no longer is. I think we've long eyed this as an opportunity to get ownership and fulfil a higher possible use here.

"We all see this as Hamilton's waterfront opportunity."

Mayor says hotel on the waterfront 'makes a lot of sense'

With the last piece headed Hamilton's way, Eisenberger took a brief moment to describe a best-case scenario for the waterfront.

"I'll only speculate once," Eisenberger said. "I think a hotel on the waterfront location makes a lot of sense, but that's pie in the sky at this moment. Right now it's just gratitude for getting ownership. I think it's good for the citizens of Hamilton, I think it's good for the federal government... The vision has always been condos a little further back so we don't obliterate the view."

Plans to develop the waterfront date back more than 30 years.

The city is currently undergoing a $40-million infrastructure upgrade to the waterfront, a cost that is spread between 2014 and 2018.