The buildings they're replacing aren't too spectacular, but I see this being a little too on the modern side for Burlington tastes, especially downtown.
Burlington is going to look like the Etobicoke waterfront pretty soon!
I get that council seems to want to maintain the "quaint" feel of the downtown strip on Brant, but it's really not a very impressive or busy place for a city of this size. I think Pandora's Box opened when the towers just a few blocks away on Lakeshore were approved, some of them a while ago but the market is just getting ripe for this kind of development in the last few years. With more additional residents coming soon, I think that will change the demand for the types of businesses downtown as well so its character is bound to evolve.
Maybe a larger setback on the Brant side and dropping a few storeys would help make people happy. But I think the concerns about this looming over city hall and generating too much traffic are way overblown (always love that traffic criticism that comes up time and time again... as if every prospective car owner in a proposed building will be leaving or arriving at the same time, all throughout the livelong day).
Given the parking lots in the area there will be other tall proposals in the next few years as well. They will also abut low-rise homes and businesses. So this kind of debate will become an ongoing one.
If City Hall, the building, doesn't want to be upstaged by this then why not move the tower to the north side of the podium. This would preserve the view of the smaller CH tower when approaching from the east on James Street.
Better yet set the podium back from the street too, or at least knock the corner off at 45 degrees, allowing for a patio at street level with the former, and more sidewalk capacity on the street corner with the latter.
I mean, a building of this scale is sure to add even more congestion on the *already busy* sidewalks! ;-)
The design of the tower is really nice and it seems like they paid a lot of attention to detail with it's aesthetic, but it does front up against those low rise buildings pretty aggressively.
If this has to lose height I hope the modern styling is carried over. Agreed though, this would be great in downtown Hamilton
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