[Sunnyside]

It's incredible to me that a keyboard warrior knows so much about the inner workings of a complex development.

I looked up their linkedin and asked some friends about them, these founders of Vantage come from humble beginnings (one grew up in Calgary, the other in east york) having to work their way up and are extremely hard working smart professionals. Both worked for investment banking firms canadian and swiss, then one worked for the largest REPE firm in Canada building rental, then in Hamilton specific. James Street will be built, and it's just a matter of time when it starts, I'm guessing 12 months.

These are the type of guys you want building in Hamilton. They'll be active, thoughtful and they're not boomers who could care less about design and finishing on time. These guys actually remember what it was like to rent.

So instead of wanting the world to burn, maybe start rooting for the young guys who weren't rich kids who actually care about what they're doing and are doers. We have enough empty talkers in the world and boomers who don't care about anything of the next generation. It's hard enough for us coming up.

Uh, it sounds like you’re the keyboard warrior who knows so much about this development, even though you show no understanding at all. I don’t know who you’re even countering here, actually, and you might be getting paid to say this. But I’ll divulge.

Vantage is at the back of a long line. This ‘project’ massacred a heritage building before subjecting it to holding company hell, without anyone ever implying they’d build for real. “This is who you want to be building in Hamilton” is the exact mentality that got that initial vapourware a ‘yes ‘, which went less than nowhere.

The site has passed hands at least 4 times since, despite having obtained permits. New hoarding and renderings pop up every other time it switches hands. Vantage is the latest.

I am always hopeful someone builds this, and I want you to be right about Vantage. But unbridled optimism is the last thing we can afford for projects, precisely because of how that was taken advantage of here.