The risks and rewards of brownfield renewal in Guelph

Fusion Homes CEO Lee Piccoli, left, and David Harper, managing partner with Kilmer Brownfield Equity Fund, tour the grounds outside The Metalworks development in Guelph, Ont., on Nov. 21, 2019.Almost a decade ago, home builder Lee Piccoli would find himself driving around a dormant eight-acre industrial site in downtown Guelph, Ont. Despite its lack of use, Mr. Piccoli could envision a new urban residential-commercial village.

Today, that mixed-used development he envisioned years ago is halfway to completion, and Mr. Piccoli’s gamble is starting to pay off.The transformation of contaminated lands into modern uses is a lesson in collaboration – from the initial purchase and subsequent resale by brownfield experts of the Wood site to incentives for site cleanup and downtown renewal offered by the City of Guelph and, crucially, the support of an initially skeptical neighbourhood association.

To meet provincial, environmental and other standards, the cleanup process encompassed safeguarding heritage buildings, removing derelict manufacturing infrastructure, cleaning up contaminated soil, replacing storm and sanitary sewers, adjusting inconsistent elevations and resolving various issues related to floodplain.

“A flourishing city has a flourishing downtown,” says Rino Dal Bello, downtown renewal program manager for Guelph. The Metalworks project, Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie says, “checked off all the right boxes from many different categories, not just financial but social, cultural, heritage and residential [growth] targets.” He added: “It has been a catalyst for that area to be developed.”

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