Monday, December 22, 2003
Annette Phillips
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The Kingston Whig-Standard
Kim Donovan, the president of Kincore Holdings Ltd., refuses to be called a philanthropist even though he devotes almost as much time and energy to community-building projects as he does to constructing trendy apartments and high-end commercial space. "We call it enlightened self-interest," he says. "What's good for the community is good for us in the long term."
In the same week he was helping wrap up a hugely successful United Way fundraising project and laying the groundwork for a campaign to raise funds to redevelop Market Square, Donovan was dashing off to a meeting of people who want to raise money for the Grand Theatre and working out a plan to rebuild an old Royal Canadian Legion Hall to turn over to the local arts community.
He's a supporter of the Kingston Symphony, a director on the board of Hospice Kingston, co-chair of the Kingston Economic Development Corporation's prosperity partnership and a member of KEDCO's economic round table. He is also a member of the St. Lawrence College Community Council, a director of the downtown business association, campaign chair for the restoration of Market Square, chair of the city's first Doors Open event, and chair of the United Way commercial sector fundraising campaign. Donovan also recently announced his intent to create low-rent studio and gallery space to give Kingston's struggling artists a downtown location in which to work and display their art.
Donovan, 47, was born in St. Thomas and came to the Kingston area in the late 1980s to build a subdivision on Wolfe Island for the Matthews Group, once a major London-based land development and construction company. The Wolfe Island project didn't materialize but Donovan decided to stay in the city and set up his own company, Kincore Holdings, with the intent of redeveloping the North Block business district, a roughly four-block area south of the OHIP building. Contamination and city-ordered studies have delayed development on the north block, but Kincore Holdings has turned its attention to other projects.
The company was awarded two Livable City Design Awards in 2003 for its restoration of the British Whig Building on King Street and for the recreation of Brock Street Common, an old carriageway. Donovan is rebuilding the historic Ontario Bank Building at the corner of King and Clarence, trying to build a new business park by the airport, hoping to start construction on the north block and trying to lease the British Whig Building.
Kincore has also asked the city to sell it a public laneway off Clarence Street. The lane is primarily used for parking and garbage storage. Donovan plans to open up the derelict area by building a new set of pedestrian pathways and courtyards behind the buildings on King, Brock, Wellington and Clarence streets.
Kincore's trendy apartments along Brock and King Streets command some of the highest rents in Kingston. Donovan owns a number of residential and retail buildings along Brock and King. He also owns other commercial buildings in the city including the ground floor of the Landmark building on Ontario Street, a strip mall, Blackburn Mews East, and an office building at Gardiners Road and Princess Street.
Still, he longs to develop the North Block - a four-block area of downtown bordered by Queen, Ontario and Wellington streets and Place d'Armes. He has plans for a multi-storey, above-ground parking lot, which includes parking for tour buses and a visitor welcome centre. Donovan intends to build residential units in the same area, on top of ground floor commercial space.
Though the bulk of his efforts are concentrated in Kingston, Donovan has a second company in Pickering. Picore Holdings owns Picore Centre, two buildings with a total of 140,000 square feet of office space near Highway 401. It is one of the largest office complexes in the small city on the eastern outskirts of Toronto. "We are contemplating further development in that area as opportunities become available," Donovan says.
Kincore also donates substantially to the Kingston community and has established criteria for community groups that want to apply for corporate funding. The company's logo is a rounded square that resembles a city block bisected by pedestrian pathways. The company name, Kincore, stands for Kingston's Core. Donovan and his wife, Marisa Donovan, have been married 24 years. The couple has two daughters attending university.
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A Passion For The Common Good: Developer Views Community Work as 'Enlightened Self-Interest' |
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