Parking garage coming to Elora – but only for mill guests, staff

ELORA – As the Walser building restoration nears completion, Pearle Hospitality wants to build a parking garage next and sought approval from council on June 15 to change its phasing options.

Pearle Hospitality and Centre Wellington Township have a tax increment equivalent grant (TIEG) agreement in place for the Elora Mill South lands that provides partial property tax relief for a set amount of time.

As the property is developed, the value of the property increases and so does its tax assessment.

Under the TIEG, Pearle Hospitality still pays property taxes but the township provides a grant equivalent to 80 per cent of the increased tax assessment for up to 10 years. Grants are provided at the completion of each of the construction phases.

The purpose is to encourage private development of lands that are difficult and expensive to rehabilitate.

The Elora South project certainly is that, with historical structures to restore and contaminated soil to remediate.

The agreement, signed in 2022, spells out the order in which the project was expected to proceed.

“But flexibility was built into the agreement,” said Mackenzie Meek, in-house planner for Pearle Hospitality, as she delegated to council. 

“We now have an understanding of how phasing will proceed and we are re-ordering the request.”

While it was always part of the plan, Pearle now wants to build an above-ground parking garage next. It would be accessed from Carleton Place and have commercial as well as hotel space in the structure.

Parking would be for guests and staff and not for the general public.

“The importance of parking has become more clear,” Meek said, explaining why this phase has been moved forward in the schedule.

The original TIEG includes six phases of construction. Phase one was the condo building that is now complete and occupied (building A in the image, right). Phase two is restoration of the Walser building, that will house a restaurant and condo units. Meek said they anticipate a fall opening of this structure.

Phase three was to be construction of a hotel and condominium building (building D); phase four the parking garage and retail-residential-commercial space (F and G); phase five a hotel-commercial building (E); and phase six development of the flat iron building (B).

Switching the order of construction projects won’t change the fundamentals of the TIEG agreement, Meek said. The entire build-out is expected to take 15 years.

To a question from councillor Bronwynne Wilton, Meek said Pearle could accommodate public parking if a floor was added to the parking structure. That would require funding and a separate agreement with the township, which it does not currently have.

CAO Dan Wilson said the township has had “numerous discussions” about that, but they are currently on hold as the township assesses its parking needs.

Such an arrangement would also require a zoning change, he added.

Councillor Kim Jefferson noted reconstruction work of Carleton Place is in year 10 of the 10-year forecast and wondered if that would alter Pearle’s plans for the parking garage.

Meek said it would ideal if work on Carleton Place could be completed in step with the parking structure, but that was not the question on the table.

Wilson said the township’s plan for Carleton Place is to upgrade the road “to full urban standard. But until we can figure out funding, it remains in year 10.”

Council approved the request to change the order of Pearle Hospitality’s construction phasing.