Mazyar Mortazavi loves to quote urban theorist Jane Jacobs, who in her landmark book The Death and Life of Great American Cities remarked: “You need old buildings to create new ideas.” As chief executive officer of Toronto-based real estate developer TAS, these eight words, penned more than 60 years ago, guide Mr. Mortazavi whenever he considers a new project or investment, reported The Globe and Mail.
"Repositioning and retrofitting commercial properties for adaptive mixed reuse is TAS’s raison d’être and what led Mr. Mortazavi to invest in the historic Coppley building in Hamilton. The neglected 167-year-old pair of attached buildings, on the corner of York Boulevard and MacNab Street in the downtown core, had sat empty since the former textile factory, which produced made-to-measure men’s wear, moved its operations three years ago four blocks away to 107 MacNab St. N."
"Constructed by Scottish stonemasons, the building is one of the few surviving pre-Confederation commercial structures in the city. Thanks to TAS, which purchased the building in November, 2021 – along with minority owner the Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF) – the site is being reimagined into a sustainable social and economic hub."
"A second-generation development company, TAS uses real estate not just for profit, but also for a social purpose. This is TAS’s first Steeltown project. What attracted them was the site’s potential to bring new ideas to an old building and protect one of Hamilton’s oldest structures from the wrecking ball."
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Senior Vice President, Weitzman Associates, LLC
1moI’m proud to have been part of this project that opens up the riverfront to the public for the first time in over a century and provides a much needed green space for the neighborhood. Great job MPFP and Hill West!