In 2008, a 71-day OMB hearing, allowed proposed Port Place development of the old port, which Port Dalhousie Conservancy, backed by ACO, opposed.

Development did not proceed beyond demolition, leaving the port’s tiny jail (built 1845) in an unsightly demolition pit.

In 2014 St Catharines Council voted – at ACO urging – to request completion of the project by July 2015, and protection of vacant heritage buildings around the site.

August 3, 2018, Fortress Real Developments Inc., third owner of Port Place (now Union Waterfront) went into receivership. Nov. 26, 2019, “Union Waterfront currently in preconstruction.”

Renamed 'The Locks' by latest developer, Rankin Construction, build scheduled to start in 2021.