The former Front Street home of a charity shop could be torn down to build a five-storey office building, according to a recent planning application.

The application proposed bringing down 4 Front Street — the former home of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore and, for many years before that, Bluck’s of Bermuda — and erecting a new building at the site.

Planning documents said that the relatively small size of the lot meant the site was not ideal for mixed uses, so the focus was placed on creating office spaces.

“We recognise that most of Front Street is an historic area, and the owner has a great appreciation for traditional vernacular,” the application stated.

“We are subsequently pursuing a design that offers the modern interior environments that are in demand, while maintaining an exterior image that fits well into the Front Street fabric and has an envelope which is a contextual response the surrounding buildings [sic].

“The small footprint of the building creates challenges with feasibility because the life safety, health and accessibility requirements for the proposed building use a large percentage of floor area.

“Because of this, the building cannot support a mixed-use development, which increases the area of non-rentable area which further erodes feasibility.

“Based on realtor input and the owner’s observation of ground-floor retail closures over the years, ground-floor retail use in this location is not feasible or in demand.

“We have looked closely at retail rental rates and have concluded that it cannot support class A construction costs and interior buildout on such a small site.

“Residential use, in conjunction with other uses, further reduces the amount of useable space in the building.”

The application said the proposed five-storey office building would “complement and support” surrounding businesses and satisfy a demand for Class A office space in the area.

The developer argued that the height would “fit” between the neighbouring Point House and Markel House, with the height helping to offset the “inefficiency” of the small footprint, making the project more viable.

“We recognise that the Development Applications Board does not have the discretion under the current City of Hamilton Plan 2015 to approve the application. However, we do seek support for the proposal from the Department of Planning,” the documents added.

“We hope that the technical officers will agree that the proposal is appropriate for the site, beneficial to the City of Hamilton, and an appropriate response to the Draft City of Hamilton Plan 2024.”

Bluck’s of Bermuda, founded by William Bluck in 1884, operated from the site for 175 years, selling china, crystal and antiques before it shut its doors in 2019.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore took over the unit the following year, but the charity chose to vacate last year after determining that necessary renovations would be too drawn-out and costly to carry out.

It was reported at the time that the site had structural issues and was considered a fire hazard.