Lister Annex | ? | 6 fl | Complete
 

Looks like something is actually happening at the old framing gallery:tup:
Was walking by King William last night and saw 2 ads in the window that they are redeveloping the building. Wow this area is really booming right now, hopefully they can add another restaurant to the area or something. More patios the better.

http://i.imgur.com/zWFqhrg.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/DlHR62D.jpg?1

I hope they don't change the facade too much. This is cool but I'd be much happier to hear about some infill in the lots on the North side or better yet in the parking lots at James and behind Bingo

Better than the building sitting abandon that's for sure. Not sure what they are doing with the facade, hopefully they plan to keep the character of the brick. It's a beautiful building though, should fit in well with the rest of the rejuvenation on the street

Need to fill in the empty buildings before we should expect to see infill projects. Great news. Lots of new and appealing apartments projects in the core.

Great news. Lets get rid of demolition park and get those Thomas Building condos going and the whole streetwall will be complete again.

Did they save the Thomas Building? I thought they only had the pieces of the building that was facing James, not King William?

The building facing King William was the Balfour building. A few pieces of that facade were "saved" by LIUNA as well before they brought it down but the exterior of the building was in much worse condition than the stone facade of the Thompson building which had been covered in a metal cladding for the better part of the last century.

By "saved", I mean that LIUNA threw them into a pile behind the Lister Block before they started working on it. Even those pieces were only a few window decorations and cornice pieces. After they removed those few pieces, the rest of the building pretty much collapsed onto itself as they demolished it.

• Video Link

derp. :rolleyes:

http://synergydevelopments.com/leasing

31 King William

Property Details

• Beautiful and historic redeveloped heritage building located in the heart of the city’s downtown revival just steps from James St North

• Wide sidewalks and brick paving highlight one of Hamilton’s trendiest and most actively developed streets in the core

• Modern urban designs by well renowned and award winning McCallum Sather Architects Inc., feature exposed brick walls & ductwork, 12-20 ft ceilings and an abundance of natural light throughout the building

• Design to suit, commercial spaces available for lease include; 600sq ft, 800sq ft and 1100-2200sq ft

I don't understand how the lot where the Balfour Building was can be filled in with the Thompson Condo. It'd cut right through the lister block's back patio area and parking lot.

In addition to McCallum Sather Architects (McMaster's Phoenix/Refectory reboot; James Baptist; Tivoli Condos), project partners include engineering firm Vanderwesten Rutherford Mantecon (McMaster Engineering Technology Building; MIP Automotive Resource Centre). MSA and VRM both previously worked on McMaster's Institute for Music and the Mind and the Braley Research Institute at Hamilton General.

Josh Perez (a financial advisor with CIBC) and Zoran Tomasevic (an assistant construction superintendent with EllisDon) are the partners behind Synergy Developments Inc.

Seems promising.

It could be constructed in a way that it curves around the back of the Lister building in an L shape. They could also build a mixed use parking garage there or something similar. Either way, LIUNA owns both properties and it makes sense to me that they'd want to develop them both together. They could essentially have a building or buildings with entrances on James, Rebecca and King William. It's a fairly large plot of land.

Joey Coleman ‏@JoeyColeman · 2h
New vegetarian restaurant planned for 31 King William called "Berkeley North". Commerical on second flr, two-storey lofts on top. #HamOnt

Exciting stuff, the building has sat there forever looking empty. They have a twitter handle @SynergyHamilton I guess they'll be updating their feed as the project moves along.

Lister Block expansion under negotiation
City council is negotiating a possible Lister Block expansion that would “fill the missing tooth” on King William Street.

Hamilton Spectator
By Matthew Van Dongen
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/73...r-negotiation/

City council is negotiating a possible Lister Block expansion that would "fill the missing tooth" on King William Street.

Council has approved formal talks about the vacant property next to the Lister Block with owner LiUNA — the Laborers' International Union of North America — which is already building a 21-storey student highrise around the corner on James Street North.

Ward councillor Jason Farr said the union-developer approached the city with a pitch to build a Lister "annex" then sell it to the city.

He said most terms of the proposal, which is "not yet a done deal," remain confidential.

But Farr said he expected the proposed six-storey extension to feature a "seamless facade" with the historic Lister Block and "fill the missing tooth" near the corner of otherwise bustling King William Street.

That gap in the King William smile once hosted the Balfour building, which was demolished after part of the dilapidated structure collapsed onto the street in 2008.

Farr said such a building extension would potentially provide office space for municipal workers currently scattered in leased space across the city. The city already houses employees on the upper floors of the Lister Block.

It's unclear whether the proposed new building would be a candidate for more restaurant space — the most popular ground-floor commercial use along that stretch of King William.

The city has experienced years of difficulty finding a secure long-term tenant for its featured restaurant site in the Lister Block. Wendel Clark's grill and bar just reopened under corporate control in the highly visible James Street and King William corner location after the brand's original franchisee floundered.

A LiUNA representative wasn't immediately available to talk about why the organization wants to pursue the build-and-sale.

But the union-builder remains busy around the Lister Block it helped rehabilitate.

In addition to building the student residence — which will feature the painstakingly replaced frontage of the former William Thomas building — LiUNA is also involved in a planned condo redevelopment of the former Kresge's store on King William.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the idea of a seamless facade. Perhaps a complementary facade would be better. Good news though. Now, let's get that jack@$$ across the street to sell that lot!

This this this^

Screw a replication. I'm not interested in seeing this facade extended in any way. A more appropriate response would be to reference the old Balfour building which stood there before.

Give us a modern, contextual addition with strong materials and great ground floor space.

Right? A seamless extension? I'd say something mirroring Templar Flats in size and materials. What a pretty street King William is becoming.

Personally, I LOVE the idea of a seamless facade.. when was the last time you heard of ANYONE in this city actually BUILDING a facade like they did in the early 20th century?? It's always just repair of old ones, never building one from scratch - creating the white terra cotta, detailing it.. ooh it just gives me goosebumps thinking about it :P

It proves that companies still are CAPABLE of doing so.. and well.. that excites me personally.

It would also give this building a more uniform look as it is longer on the james st side than it is on the king william side.

The original building that collapsed was in terrible shape and not that great to look at, so I would like to see liuna extend this personally.. but that's just me.

We can all grumble all we want but in the end they will do what they will do! Excited to see what becomes of this space regardless!

also while you're at it liuna- it's time to clean the terracotta facade of the lister block.. it's starting to get dirty..

From press release on City website
"The City of Hamilton has announced a formal agreement with the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) to acquire and develop a parcel of LiUNA-owned land adjacent to the City-owned Lister Block building. The project would include the construction of an addition (Annex) to the historic Lister Block building, with completion anticipated later this year.

Once completed, the Annex would fill in the final “missing tooth” along the north side of King William Street between James Street and Hughson Street. The six-floor Annex would include approximately 15,981 square feet of net, new useable office space directly connected with the existing City offices. It also would add 3,336 square feet of ground floor commercial space, which would be highly suitable for a restaurant use that would add to the growing culinary scene that has opened up along King William Street. "

from Jason thorne's tweet
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DT7ct8lWsAEgm1u.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DT7ct8qX4AIRzt8.jpg

thank fuck