Building a community asset in the east end

Graham Cubitt was overcome by a sense of gloominess and despair when he first walked into the former Jamrock nightclub, three years ago.

The main floor of the two-story structure had been converted from a popular neighbourhood sports bar into a rowdy club. The ceilings, walls and bar had been painted purple or black and every nook and cranny of the cavernous dance floor seemed shrouded in darkness.

“You felt the oppressive power of the building. There was so much darkness and so many people had been negatively affected by it,” recalls Cubitt.

“We felt a calling to transform it and inspire hope,” he adds.

He had been touring the derelict building on Main Street East with other officials from Homestead Christian Care, a government-registered charity.

The organization eventually bought the building and converted it into a $7 million community centre with 46 affordable housing units for the poor.

“Our executive director said, ‘we need light here ... we need to bring natural light into this building’,” says Cubitt, Director of Projects and Development for Homestead Christian Care.

Cubitt and his friend Jeff Neven, Director of Operations for the organization, recently took an OpenFile reporter for a tour of the reconstructed three-story complex that will officially open as the John M. Perkins Centre on September 1, later this year.

Despite the gloomy atmosphere and murky history, Cubitt says they sensed right from the start the neighbourhood eyesore could be transformed into a community asset.

Built in 1949 as Paul’s Driftwood restaurant, it had been one of the city’s finest eateries after the Second World War.

The original owner had also opened a 21-unit rooming house on the second floor where a few tenants were still living when the Jamrock moved in. One of the last residents, a man in his 80’s, died alone in his room. His body was discovered a few days later when friends went to check on his welfare.

Although the building was structurally sound, it had fallen into serious disrepair. The roof leaked, a flock of pigeons had invaded the upstairs rooms through broken windows, and mould had built up on the second floor from a marijuana grow-op.

Homestead added a third floor to the original structure and expanded the building to a massive 36,000 square feet over four levels. There are 23 independent living units on each of the second and third floors. Each unit offers 350 square feet of living space with washrooms and cooking facilities. There is also a computer room where tenants will have free access to the internet.

The main floor houses a spacious auditorium and a kitchen that will be available to the community for lectures, seminars and cooking classes. Homestead will also be renting space to the McMaster University School of Nursing for a mock clinic that will be used as a teaching aid.

Cubitt says about half of the housing units have already been spoken for and he expects the building will be fully rented by the beginning of September. Most of the tenants will be receiving government pensions of about $1,000 a month. They will be charged $469 a month for rent and utilities, which reflects the amount they get in housing allowance.

Cubitt is confident they¹ve removed almost all vestiges of the building’s former shadowy self. Natural light now infuses every floor through an atrium in the middle of the building.