Hamilton City Centre | ? | 3x30 & 24 fl | Proposal
 

Via @LarryDiIanni:

Saw this this morning. Maybe we can move this discussion to Hamilton Retail?

What I'd like to see happen to Hamilton CityCtr:
-kill leases w/ smaller, indy shops
-Expand stores to make them larger (and more attractive) for big-name retail
-Create incentives for both indy shops (helping them find streetfront retail in some of Downtown's many, many empty storefronts); and for big-name retailers to set up in HCC (Looking at Winners as Anchor, H&M, Indigo/Chapters, Abercrombie&Fitch, Hollister, Apple, Boathouse, Zara as well as food court regulars A&W and/or Harveys, Popeys, etc etc).
-STREETFRONT STORES along both James/York
-Obvious Cosmetic Work (GOD I hate pastels)
-Something, ANYTHING, with that York/James entrance. It smells like a urinal and looks like one too!

What would you guys like to see done w/ the place?

I think that integrating the City Centre with the street and opening up storefronts to the sidewalks on James and York are most important. Right now it feels so disconnected from the street almost the way that the Toronto Eaton Centre did before they renovated it. I think having Residential units on the top floor might also work. This way people can live and shop in the same complex.

As you guys said, I'd love to see them punch holes in those walls and open the stores to the street.

Biggest improvement would be to knock holes along the James street front and includes new street entrance. Knock down the fake flags too.

Amen, boys! I have to say I really enjoy walking by when the African-Canadian Novelty Shop is open as their doors are always open, and they usually have music playing out onto the street!

Other than this one storefront, there are no other stores that open onto James between King-York (besides the Mall Entr @ KingWilliam and a locked door for Pam's cafe)

If you look closely at the awnings along James, you can see the names of the banks and stores, including Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, that used to open up to the street.

Hamilton City Centre sold for $25m

http://www.thespec.com/news/business/article/559372--hamilton-city-centre-sold-for-25m

The 450,000-square-foot building that houses city offices, commercial space and retailers was purchased for $25 million by a Barrie-area developer through a numbered company. The developer has told city staff he wants to fill the centre, focusing on high-tech and creative industries.

The property, which temporarily was bustling with politicians and city staffers as City Hall was renovated, has struggled with vacant space, unpaid taxes, inability to land anchor tenants and retailer turnover.

But the three-storey complex, built as a downtown mall for $70 million in 1990 by Cadillac Fairview Corporation, is considered a key element in the rejuvenation of the city core.

The purchaser declined an interview with The Spectator but released a statement through Ana Cacilhas, general manager of the City Centre.

“The new owner is anxious and eager to bring new tenants into the Hamilton City Centre. We are committed to the complex as well as participating and assisting in the revitalization of the downtown core. Our plans for the complex will focus on renovations, aggressive leasing and marketing.”

A corporate search of the numbered company that purchased the property includes an address in Penetanguishene, but no directors of the company are listed.

Fercan Developments purchased the former Eaton Centre for $3.6 million in 2000 when the iconic retailer went bankrupt.

Mayor Bob Bratina’s office confirmed the sale Wednesday but declined a request for an interview, saying the details are confidential.

“He can’t say anything else right now,” Peggy Chapman, the mayor’s executive assistant, said in an email.

Downtown Councillor Jason Farr greeted the sale as good news, although he was trying to get information in between council meetings Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m hopeful. If someone is willing to make a substantial investment into a prime piece of property, an esthetically pleasing piece of property, I’m happy.”

Farr says the proximity to the recently renovated central library and farmers’ market, the Lister Block undergoing upgrades and the burgeoning arts scene on James Street all make the City Centre both an attractive investment and a crucial piece in the push to keep the area’s momentum going.

There was also $1.5-million worth of upgrades to accommodate about 500 city staff, including windows cut into the walls of the old Eaton store, and new elevators.

The city still rents about 90,000 square feet of space in the mall for public works, bylaw enforcement and recreation and culture staff.

There are also chain retailers taking up small storefronts, such as La Senza and Fairweather, along with discount retailers such as Hart, a call centre, a career college and a food court. Vacancy runs at about 25 per cent.

Glen Norton, the city’s acting manager of downtown renewal, said he met with the new owner Tuesday. The meeting was arranged by Fercan officials.

Norton declined to give the new owner’s name, saying he was unsure whether the owner wants his identity revealed. In fact, the buyer did not offer a business card or phone number to Norton.

He said the buyer owns number of properties throughout Ontario, including some in Hamilton.

“I was favourably impressed with his desire to be part of the success of the downtown. He’s a strong believer in this city.”

Norton said the developer told him of his hope to concentrate on finding tenants in the creative and tech sectors, He said there were discussions, although no commitments, to look at breaking open the solid expanses of street-level concrete facing James and York and adding windows and doors.

“I get the sense he’s a doer, not a talker … He seems like a serious businessman, not someone who craves attention.”

The City Centre has an assessed value of $17.6 million and pays more than $533,000 in taxes to the city. Although Fercan was $410,000 in arrears on the City Centre in 2009, taxes are now up to date, according to city staff.

Fercan was also behind by $1.1 million on 21 King St. W., the Commerce Place towers.

That building was bought by Hamilton-based property developer Wilson Blanchard, which also wanted to buy the City Centre, according to company partner David Blanchard, and had worked on a deal with Fercan.

“We have a major tenant who was quite interested in taking quite a bit of it … They would have been good for the downtown.”

Blanchard says the tenant is now looking at space elsewhere in Hamilton.

I don't have any wicked-awesome ideas that wouldn't qualify and complete and utter deluded fantasy BUT what I can say is it'll never be successful as a shopping centre. Let's not forget all the big names that once called the Eaton Centre home...

It needs to be repurposed in some way and likely for a tremendous amount of money. Otherwise, it'll continue in its current incarnation until it's boarded up for good.

Kinda funny when you think that Rogers bought Skydome for $25 million.

$70m in 1990 = $85m in 2000 = $108m in 2011. $3.5m in 2000 = $4.5m in 2011. Too bad the city didn't have the foresight to snap it up before Fercan. They'd have saved themselves some rent and turned a tidy profit they could put toward the health campus.

The City Centre would be a good area to renovate as a new Convention Centre, the right size and location. The upper floors can remain as office space.

City Centre mall aiming to be a part of James North revival

http://www.thespec.com/news/business/art...ming-to-be-a-part-of-james-north-revival

The buzz on James Street North is spreading south to the Hamilton City Centre.

Next week the mall is unleashing bumblebees, balloons and businesses in its launch of the new Busy Bee Shoppers’ Village.

It’s part of an overall push to position itself as a key part of the James North renewal, with new community-oriented activities, a cleanup of its exterior, efforts to boost mall traffic and plug into the growing arts vibe.

Dawn Murphy, the event co-ordinator, said the shoppers’ village itself is a multipurpose event. It’s a chance for established arts and crafts businesses to try out the mall without the high price tag, she said, and it’ll bring new traffic into the mall. It also fits with the reshaping of the mall to be more of a community centre.

“Most people can’t afford to get into a mall, especially when they’re smaller,” she said. “These are high quality items that you can’t find anywhere else — handmade aprons, handmade candles, handmade jewellery.”

Several health, church and charitable organizations will also have trade booths set up in the central two floor areas of the city centre.

It’s a big step forward for the mall, which was purchased last summer for $25 million by a Barrie-based developer after a series of long-standing problems with vacant space, unpaid taxes, inability to land anchor tenants and retailer turnover.

Cadillac-Fairview built the centre in 1990 for $70 million.

At the time of the purchase, the developer — who wishes to remain anonymous — indicated to city staff he wanted to fill it with creative and high-tech businesses.

Murphy was hired recently to help spearhead efforts to build a community profile for mall and create some excitement.

So far, Murphy has accepted 25 registrants for the shoppers’ village — double what she expected.

The official launch is Friday, July 6, with other shoppers village events planned for July 20, Aug. 10, Aug. 24 and then every Friday and Saturday in September.

Ana Cacilhas, the general manager of the Hamilton City Centre, said it’s one way for the centre to differentiate itself from Jackson Square.

“I’ve seen an increase in traffic, there’s a trickle effect from James,” she said. “With the Lister Block finally renovated, it’s lifted this big, dark cloud off the street.”

On Tuesday Cacilhas is meeting with Supercrawl organizers to find out ways the City Centre tenants can couple mall events with street events.

“It’s a gorgeous mall and people don’t even know what’s in here,” she said.

Next week, the City Centre will unveil its new social media presence with Twitter and Facebook accounts and new images will go up in its ad boxes facing James Street North.

A new sign just went up on the spiffed-up pedestrian walkway over York Boulevard. There are also plans to give the James Street façade and awnings a bit of a facelift.

Cacilhas said a new health and fitness company, T-Zone, will officially open on July 9 and she’s in talks with several retailers and businesses about leasing some vacant space.

She expects to be able to make some announcements in a few months about new tenants.

At least City Centre is making an effort. Jackson Square management doesn't seem to do anything.

Good on the City Centre. I hope the art crawl snobs can actually force themselves into a mall and check it out.

The Eaton Centre is actually a very nice interior space, for not having a renovation since it was built 20 years ago, the space inside is actually very cool. Time to protect it and designate it 'historical', classic late 80s early 90s.

:shrug:

What is an art crawl snob? Gotta laugh. That's so Hamilton.

I've been going to almost every one for the past two years (start with dinner downtown at varying restaurants) with a group of friends.

One common observation among us is the eclectic crowd that attends. Seems like all walks of life are represented.

It's a very inclusive event.

The art crawl, and those involved have done magnificently and deserve kudos.

Downtown is a fun place to go, and the art crawl is a big part of that.

I look forward to the City Centre getting in on the downtown momentum.

Is the Art Crawl already that popular that we are already putting it down!

Common "Real City" You can't seriously be ripping on it, if you are then you must be:koko:

I'm trying to figure out which part of this comment I hate most. :slob:

I agree that the City Centre is a nice mall but... snobs? Really?

Hopes & Dreams
 

Back in the day...

Downtown Mall Could Rise as Internet Communication Hub

A couple of local entrepreneurs want to transform a major part of Hamilton’s City Centre into a $25 million to $30 million telecommunication facility.

Is this just an update on how nothing's happening?

The link doesn't work for me.

It's such a monstrosity that the only thing I can envision is some kind of convention facility.

It`s from 2003.

Content removed

Hamilton City Centre now has a website

http://hamiltoncitycentremall.com/

That place is such an embarrassment. Would it be that hard to remove the rusty disneyworld "flags" and maybe clean up the facade a bit?

I'm not sure how the City Centre could ever be profitable or viable ever again. I'd be interested in hearing peoples' ideas. I think it's safe to say it'll never work as a shopping centre...

IIRC, a year or two ago there was mention of a new owner who planned to retrofit the James street side to have shops with entrances on James, just as was done with Toronto's Eaton Centre years ago, to make it much more street friendly.


***edit*** See Steeltown's post on page 1 of this thread dated July 6, 2011 at 9:42 pm.

^Yeah, I know but I'm not sure it'll ever happen much like previous proposals. And even if they do go ahead with those changes, can they actually make any money? Can they attract tenants that'll pay top dollar or close to it? I wonder if it's ever made money. Even when it opened, I'm pretty sure not all the spaces were rented.

Guess that'll depend on how far and how fast the downtown revitalization goes. if all the planned and discussed condos get occupied, then I see no reason why not.

1. Witton Lofts
2. Acclamation
3. Tivoli
4. Lister Block
5. Connaught
6. Blanchard Gore Park proposal
7. Vrancor's Bella Towers

Will this condo trend accelerate? We'll see.

(As an aside, met a newly hired co worker who grew up and still lives in Markham who is eager to buy a Connaught condo.)

The revitalisation of downtown will help the City Centre in some way, sure. But in order to be successful, doesn't it have to compete with other malls like Limeridge, for example? If they can't attract retailers of the same ilk then nobody will bother going. Even when they had the Gap, Eddie Bauer, etc., business was pretty poor. I don't know...I really don't.

Could it be successful in some other form, perhaps something that doesn't require a profit? Educational/ institutional...

I'm just going by the assumption that the number one missing ingredient in the downtown core is a residential demographic with significant disposable income. Get enough young urban professionals, retired empty nesters who have money to spend, and the market should take care of itself.

Would that be enough to fill the City Centre? I don't know, but it's gotta help.

The city should have rebuilt city centre as a new city hall with a facade homage to the old city hall at king william - with interior offices with windows to an atrium (instead of the current mall balcony/escalator model). Part of the project could have been street facing retail. They should have sold current city hall to mcmaster for a dollar with the agreement that they do the architectural restoration and have free reign to build facilities behind it (leaving the forecourt as public space).

^That's what BoBra wanted. I get it but I'm not sure how having a 'City Mall' would have gone over.

^^ I like that idea!

You gotta see the vision. You eliminate all mall-ishness inside. You build glass walls to the balconies inside, so you have window offices facing a central atrium with plantings below - a garden area for employees.

On the outside, you build a nice facade at king william that's only maybe 100 feet wide. So it looks like city hall is narrow but once you get inside it's modern and huge. The rest of the James facade becomes retail below with window offices above. It would have been a fantastic space.

If done right, the sheer beauty of what could be done there will quickly shut the city mall jokers' mouths.

It would also force staff and council to interact with downtown Hamilton daily, rather than driving in on a highway to a dedicated parking lot. It's too easy for them to ignore downtown from that location.

Anyway, this is all gone now. We spent the money at Main Street, and city centre rots.

City Centre might change when the rents on the street are high enough to justify new construction. The City can offer subsidized rents in the Lister Block, but the owners of City Centre can't likely afford renovations until they can make their money back through rent.

Every night I pray to god that they will decide to demolish the City Centre and replace it with street level store fronts like on the shopping streets of major cities.

Originally it was the Eaton Centre . Toronto's Eaton Centre was the same way when it was built, and has since been renovated to have store fronts facing Yonge St.

A while ago, an article mentioned a new buyer for Hamilton's City Centre and there was mention of doing the same thing here.

See post #8 of this thread that says,

Every major Canadian city, has some sort of super-block shopping center (ex. Rideau Centre in Ottawa, Eaton's Center in Toronto, Edmonton City Centre in Edmonton etc.), and all of them with the exception of Hamilton's Jackson Square have been extensively renovated to be more pedestrian friendly and include access to public transportation. I still do not understand, why Hamilton has not considered investing money to do the same. In the 1970's the downtown core was built-up around such a project, and now with all this focus surrounding urban renewal we neglect to invest in this vital piece of infrastructure. I'm happy to see investment into the City Center, but upset that the structure still turns away from the street.

I have no idea what you mean about the Rideau centre being pedestrian friendly or better for transit. Sure is has the Transit Way beside it and a bunch of bus stops along the other side, but James Street and King Street have plenty of buses too. As for pedestrian friendliness, apart from going along Rideau Street it's definitely not. On average Jackson Square is much nicer to walk around (4 okay sides vs. 2 horrid, one okay and one good). Now it's been a while since I was at the Eaton's Centre in Toronto, but I don't remember it being much better either, apart from the PATH system and subway connection, neither of which are really fair to compare with Jackson Square.

As for other cities, those I've not been to.:shrug:

In the case of Hamilton's Jackson Square, the owner, Yale Properties, has only really taken interest in upgrading the facilities in the past 5-7 years and the City Centre next door has bounced around between owners a few times now since Eaton's packed it's bags. I think both places are only going to get better in the coming years though and Jacskon Square in particular may end up rivaling many other Canadian downtown shopping centres. The new grocery store was a huge leap forward. There's been some serious talk from both property owners about opening the buildings up to the street and Yale seems to be reeling in some higher class tenants lately (relative to the usual dollar stores and no name clothing stores of the past).

And remember, Hamilton moved the Gore Park transit hub right beside Jackson Sqaure on MacNab St.

This really piqued my interest. Can you elabourate with any detail?

Right, I forgot that they moved it all over there.

Interesting points from all of you. I always love getting your perspective on things. The MacNab Transit Terminal was an idea that goes back to the late 1970's and took only until a couple of years back to bring it fruition. Meanwhile, although under different pretenses, the Toronto Eaton Center opened itself up to the subway system, trolleys, and buses. Rideau Center, although not as integrated stays open all night, to although for easier passage between stops. I will agree, that the new grocery store was a step in the right direction, but there is still much to be done. Can any of you, elaborate on these plans to open up some more street frontage? That point really intrigued me.

Both Jackson Square and the City Centre could be so much more than they are.

Market forces and downtown demographics may tip the balance for that to happen in the not-too-distant future.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/2262466-jackson-square-wants-to-be-more-street-friendly/


"Jackson Square has hired a prominent local architect to figure out how to make the downtown mall more connected to the streets around it.

The mall was designed in the 1960s and built in the 1970s when the car was supreme, said David Premi, who has garnered international recognition for his redesign of the downtown library and farmers' market.

He says the discussions with mall owner Yale Properties are in the preliminary stages but he will look at bringing in more natural light, creating better signage and wayfinding inside the mall, and re-creating the mall's street entrances."

Hahahaha! Jackson Square will NEVER come close to even the standards of Square One! Haha and atleast Square One is going through renovations to make it more grand. JS has barely any natural sunlight (unlike Mapleview Centre nearby) and it's so small. Plus, it's soooo ghetto.

The City Centre on the other hand, is do-able. They just need to renovate the whole building to make it feel more luxurious and cozy. AKA warm wood tones and greenery. But in the end, it's a little too small anyways.

Praying one day that Hamilton gets their shit together. ;)