1020 Upper James Street | 27.5m | 8 fl | Under Construction
 

Site:
http://i.imgur.com/qMJ9bou.jpg
Google Street View | 1020 Upper James Street, Hamilton, Ontario

Good to see they want to build much needed apartments instead of condos.

well there goes another beautiful building..

Of all the strip malls on Upper James that you could knock over...

Why is everyone so upset? It's a really generic looking building, maybe a bit historic, but not urban or unique. Basically a historic example of a McMansion.

Biggest loss will be the nice but overly manicured garden.

As already mentioned, it's a much better looking building than many buildings along Upper James. Replace the ugly buildings and empty lots first and work your way up. That's how you make a bigger impact of transformation to a street/area. At best, this is a lateral move.

I thought everyone was being sarcastic lamenting this building. Lol

I'd be happy to see the entirety of Upper James demolished and replaced with mid-rise, and ground floor retail. The street is a horrendous waste of urban space and totally car dominant.

Something like a mid rise boulevard in DC or Denver would be ideal with centre running LRT/BRT

http://denverinfill.com/blog/wp-cont...2-1024x684.jpg

And this development will help drive more? It's not replacing something beautiful, it's replacing something meh with higher density. It's an improvement unless the design is really ugly.

replacing everything with high rise buildings is not the solution - then you get the cold lightless windy corridors and the heartless feel of toronto - a mix of historic "ordinary" buildings and new is key. Imo.

all of those smaller houses that have been converted to tattoo parlours and manny pedi places along upper james near fennel should be torn down and replaced with low rise with retail .... and the plaza (shoppers etc.) should have had street front entrances or at least windows facing the street

I agree on the mix, absolutely. One story boxes surrounded by asphalt on Upper James doesn't really do much for me personally tho.
I find Toronto to be full of charm, grit, historic street walls, etc..... I've spent several days or overnight trips in TO over the years and am always struck at the sterile cold vibe when returning to Hamilton on Main or York Blvd.
Of course we also have some vibrant human scale neighbourhoods that are fantastic. But Toronto has hundreds more.

Toronto's a soulless hellhole. I can say that because there are almost no Toronto posters in this forum. ;)

All joking aside, Toronto's fine for a weekend or a day trip. But living? No chance. Never again.

haha! Some areas certainly are. I'm a big fan of the neighbourhoods. Love spending weekends in Trinity Bellwoods, Roncy, Leslieville, St Lawrence, Evergreen Brickworks, Kensington Market, College etc......

Bay and King...sure, monster glass office towers. But the city's neighbourhoods are fantastic.

Personally I just find toronto too big, the people there just too preoccupied with their own little worlds, and just subdivision upon subdivision of high rise condos.. it does feel soulless to me, hamilton is unique in that it is in the top 10 of places to visit in canada with high density which is NOT a provincial capitol - and I can walk through it without getting that intimidating "bigness" feeling I do walking through toronto - also its close proximity to the escarpment helps too.

As was said above, toronto is nice for a visit, but I could never live there.

The preparations for my Granddad's funeral where done at Crestmount...

^^I agree with both of the above posts - not the funeral one. ;)

Toronto has changed dramatically over the past generation. Some good. A lot bad.

It has become, more than ever, a magnet for people across the country and around the world. The city centre now seems mostly populated by people from other places who live in little see-through boxes high in the sky. The sense of community, the friendliness of Toronto has not disappeared per se but has greatly diminished.

Toronto is now your typical World City. Cold. Unfriendly. Unaffordable. Forever focused southward. In a sense, it's unCanadian - whatever that means.

I'm glad Toronto's there; Hamiltonians are fortunate it's on our doorstep. But, as someone who spent his first 10 years in Toronto, that city feels alien to me now and I always feel a great sense of homecoming when I pull off the 403 at York.

I hope Hamilton continues along its current trajectory but I'm worried about the culture shift that is likely to follow.

i recently moved back to Hamilton after 18yrs in Toronto... there's definitely more of a sense of community here in Hamilton (not to say that Toronto doesn't have its cute areas) but in Toronto the corporate take over of all the cute areas crushes the community feeling and keeps pushing people further and further out
besides the fact that people feel a sense of entitlement when they become a Torontonian (they just need a reminder every now and again that they too are most likely from a small town or suburban hell hole like the rest) ;)

^I like that.

Yes, it's that dreaded corporate takeover, seemingly at all levels of life in Toronto, that has had such an impact on the city.

And everything I've said about Toronto could be applied to Vancouver and many other major cities around the world. I love visiting Vancouver but to live there would be a terrible mistake.

Website: 1020upperjames.ca

https://i.imgur.com/aBuD1Vx.jpg
source

https://i.imgur.com/Ldlo8tv.jpg
source

This thread needs a name update from 1020 Upper James Street | ? | 12 fl | Proposed to 1020 Upper James Street | 27.5m | 8 fl | Proposed

Of all the trash buildings on Upper James, they choose the only actual beautiful building with possible heritage value.

You can't fool me rendering. Upper James doesn't see that amount of pedestrian activity EVER!

That's pretty unfortunate to see this building go down for this.....it's not a bad proposal, but yes, most of Upper James would be better candidates for this project. I appreciate the views on the first page...I fear this virus might make the "corporate" spread a bit stronger in many cities to be honest.

Nice!

One of the funnest projects an urban planner or architect could possibly undertake is the reimagining of Upper James. What would it look like if it were lined with buildings like this one, if it had a bus lane, a bike lane and parking, if it were properly landscaped, etc. It wouldn't look like Paris but it would be a hell of a lot of fun!

^ It could look like Mohawk or Fennell. The city stopped designing streets like that in the 50s.

Upper james is basically restaurant row.

One could argue most of james in its entirety is restaurant row.

I wonder if james ever predicted this..

That's what the city wants to do with Centennial Parkway. Basically the same type of street, different part of town. It will be interesting to see how that may evolve.

There are a number of other candidates like that too: Main West, Queenston Road, Upper Wentworth south of Mohawk, parts of Mohawk Road, etc...

Hamilton has DOZENS of candidates! We're so lucky! ;)

Hamilton's Upper James Street's 'renaissance' begins with eight-storey development

116 residential units proposed

By Kevin Werner Reporter Mountain News December 13, 2022

An eight-storey mixed use building is proposed for 1020 Upper James St.An eight-storey mixed use building is proposed for 1020 Upper James St.
The Upper James Street development renaissance is about to begin.

Hamilton councillors at their Dec. 7 meeting approved a recommendation to rezone a 3,623-square-metre property at 1020 Upper James St. for an eight-storey, mixed-use building that will have 121 underground parking spaces and 150 bike spots.

“It’s really important the renaissance of Upper James sets off on the right foot,” said Ward 8 Coun. John-Paul Danko during the Nov. 29 planning committee meeting.

He said the owner, Alex Arbab of Royal Living Development Company, is taking an “underutilized” property and proposing a development that “enhances” the area.

“When we talk about developments, we want good quality developments,” said Danko. “It should set the precedent for what we want Upper James Street to look like.”


The property, which houses a structure built in the early 20th century — and where former Mayor Fred Eisenberger had his mayoral campaign office located in 2018 — was rezoned to allow for eight storeys that will house 116 residential units, plus 100-square-metres of commercial space on the bottom floor.

The brick building will be demolished, said staff. A cultural heritage impact was completed on the structure in November 2017.

Glenn Wellings of Wellings Planning Consultants, said the proposed development “has seen a long road to get to this point” since the application was filed in 2019.

The original proposal had been eight storeys containing 99 residential units and 98-square-metres of commercial space.

The application was amended four times until the final document was approved by councillors.

Sarah Burjaw, a planner with Wellings Planning Consultants, said the owner “would have liked to have gone higher” but there would have been shadow issues impacting the surrounding neighbourhood. A small plaza is located beside the building, while the area behind it is residential.

The eight-storey design will “not create adverse shadow impacts,” said planning staff. There will be increased side yard setbacks on both the north and south sides.

“(The owner) was able to keep it at eight storeys,” said Danko.

But he said that will not be the case for other developments that have been proposed along Upper James Street.

“Under the current climate we will have applications that will go far higher than the eight storeys,” he said. “I’m quite excited for this proposal. The owner has the respect for the neighbourhoods.”

https://www.thespec.com/local-hamilt...spec_web_ymbii

"150 bike spots".
I hope "the Upper James Street development renaissance" that is "about to begin" includes a path or bike lane for cyclists, without taking out a car lane.

Definitely room south of Fennell. Between Fennell and the brow there's not much space and cyclists would be better off on West 5th, where there should be a dedicated lane coming off the Keddy trail... it still merges onto the sidewalk doesn't it?

Preferably by taking out a car lane with a BRT-style bus lane.

The A-Line will probably necessitate two dedicated lanes.

Expect much angst over it.

Ah yes the renaissance of plastic ikea brutalistic looking buildings that look like someone threw a bunch of different lego blocks together and called it a building, popping up all over the city.

But hey at least they put SOME sort of pattern in with the windows.. although the big and small alterations kinda makes me nauseous.. as well as the lack of any seemingly consistent height of the windows.. do the principles and elements of design mean NOTHING to these people anymore.. oi vey..

https://i.imgur.com/aBuD1Vx.jpg

This is probably just the first of many new buildings in this area. The car dealership across the street, Upper James Toyota, is moving up closer to the airport. So that large property will be vacant as well.

Sigh why can't we have more buildings like the locke street building.. I mean not that upper james is groundbreaking design in any way but still..

They have put up the fencing for this site. Looks like they are about to start demolition of the existing building. I think city hall has already approved the development.

It seems like construction is in full swing; the old funeral home is gone, and they are digging.

I drove by today and it was still just demolition equipment. The hole in the ground was just for removing the old foundation.

I'll update if actual construction equipment shows up.

Crane is going up today.

Final Design
https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...818-171586.jpg

Construction Updates
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...74-jpg.683527/
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...76-jpg.683528/
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...60-png.686338/