A new housing development is on the way, and the team behind it was at Treasure Hunt on Saturday to welcome the community — and collect toys for the coming holidays.
Amy Boren, a Realtor working with iConnect Community, said toys raised at the event went to the CHCH toy drive and Operation Santa Claus through the Hamilton Rotary Club.
The iConnect Community is a planned 4,000 unit development that will be built where Dollarama, Value Village, Treasure Hunt and Crunch Fitness currently sit.
The development will include condo buildings and townhouses of different sizes, a park and other amenities, and is meant to be part of a "complete community", which means its residents will have access to nearby stores and may work in the office park nearby.
"We've got thousands of employees already working here, got a million square feet there of industrial warehouse, and we already have over 100 tenants in the community from mom-and-pop shops to Crunch Fitness to Wal-Mart, to NoFrills, to banks to other restaurants," said manager John A. Krpan.
While there is no official start date for building the housing units, Krpan mentioned a 10- to 12-year timeline for the project.
Construction has begun on an extension of the NoFrills plaza across Clappison Drive, where Dollarama will move. The Krpan Group, the development company behind iConnect Community, has not confirmed if other stores are also planning to move.
Krpan said the group was able to collect a few hundred toys for local charities.
"We'll have many more events coming forward in next year and all years going forward, and we're very excited to be bringing together people from all around the community," Krpan said.
