Developer increases stake in downtown Windsor.

By Dave Battagello The Windsor Star.

London developer Shmuel Farhi continues to become a major player in developing Windsor’s downtown.

Farhi has agreed to purchase a 24,000-square-foot, two-storey office building in the 200 block of Pitt Street West connected to the riverfront Radisson hotel, according to several sources.

Farhi said Wednesday the paperwork has not been completed, but he hopes that can happen by the end of the month.

"The deal is not yet finalized," he said. "Let’s be patient."

He did not want to discuss any further details about the deal until it is complete.

The agreement to buy the downtown building follows his purchase in late April of the former Bill Docherty-owned parking garage across Pitt Street for $4.08 million.

The garage would play a key role in Farhi’s downtown development plans. He has said offering parking to tenants in his buildings is critical to leasing.

He owns 87 downtown sites in London, including 16 parking lots.

The Radisson office building is attached to the parking garage by an overhead crosswalk.

Sources said Farhi is working alongside Mayor Eddie Francis in discussions with officials from the University of Windsor and St. Clair College to create a new joint post-secondary complex in the downtown core that could house up to 1,000 students. It was unknown whether that use would utilize existing buildings or new ones would be constructed.

Francis did not return a message left by The Star.

"At this time I cannot make comment about any conversations about bringing students downtown," said Dayo Kefentse, spokeswoman for the university. "There is not anything to comment about on that because there is no firm information."

Kefentse added she was not aware if university leaders had direct conversations with Farhi.

A spokesman for the college said they "have been going over different scenarios on what we can do" to bring more students downtown, but nothing was imminent.

John Fairley said there have been dealings with Farhi only regarding student parking in the garage — which holds 730 vehicles on seven floors.

Farhi has upped the rate for the college’s students to $65 per month — nearly double what they were paying under Docherty’s ownership.

Hundreds of students attend classes nearby in the riverfront St. Clair Centre for the Arts — the former Clearly International Centre — and starting this fall dozens more will attend the college’s new mediaplex centre in the former Salvation Army building on the corner of University Avenue West and Victoria Avenue.

Farhi’s newly purchased parking garage sits between the two buildings.

Farhi gained control in 2005 of riverfront land at the corner of Riverside Drive West and Bruce Avenue valued at about $2 million in a land swap deal with the city that led to the construction of the $72.1-million WFCU Centre in the east end.

Farhi bought the former Lear plant land off Lauzon Road and then chopped off a third of the property to sell to the city for its arena site and in exchange also received the riverfront land.

Another key riverfront property a block away from Farhi’s land at the corner of Riverside Drive and Janette Avenue has also been sold, but local real estate agent Greg Barlow — whose name is on the sold sign — said he could not reveal the buyer until the deal’s closing date at the end of July.

He would only say the buyer was a numbered company from out of town and represented by a Toronto lawyer.

Downtown business association president Chris Edwards said he has been kept out of the loop in ongoing discussions involving the schools and city to bring more students to the downtown core.

"I keep hearing things about the university, college and Farhi, but I feel like I’m the last to know," Edwards said.