Dundas Update

[flar]

Renovation of old hotel is nearly complete:



This is where Bark & Fitz (upscale dog store) will be. There was a sign up last week but the workers took it down when I was there this weekend.

[flar]

Dundas is looking good for the holidays. Good shopping too, if a little pricey, but always nice to look:

[flar]

Another new store opened up as well, women's fashion accessories I think:

[Millstone]

Upscale dog store. Okay.

[raisethehammer]

what is this? the new Locke?
Kohana and Discount Emporium are both from Locke South.
I think Kohana moved there...Discount Emporium opened a second location in Dundas.
pretty cool though....10 years ago you'd never dream of having a downtown Hamilton business open new locations in Dundas. Folks would have always assumed it'd be the other way around, if at all.

[SteelTown]

So I went to Bark & Fitz today. Love it! lol Bought dog treats for my dog and other crap to spoil her.

The dog groomer was super nice. My dog went blind awhile ago and so I told her about my dog so she took my cell number and will only have my dog alone in the groomer (my dog gets scared of other dogs since she went blind). So she was super nice, great service! Plus to cut my dog hair is about $50 to $60 which isn't bad.

[LikeHamilton]

Tempers flare over temporary fire hall

TheSpec.com

The Hamilton Spectator Dundas (May 22, 2008)

The fire station in downtown Dundas is slated to close for at least a year of renovations, and city council is being asked to rezone the former Dundas hydro service building on Park Street West as a temporary fire hall, over the objections of several neighbours.

Hamilton Fire Service officials say the former volunteer station at 19 Memorial Square has to be revamped for use by full-time firefighters and paramedics, and the former utilities building on Park is the only suitable place to relocate the pumper truck based in Dundas.

Tim Dexter, who owns a nearby house built in the 1840s, said area residents want the site redeveloped for housing as soon as possible, even though "going against the fire department is like going against motherhood; it's so hard to do."

[flar]

Just got back from Buskerfest. King St. in Dundas is jam packed and there are lots of good performers, I think the highlight was the silver Elvis statue guy. Buskerfest continues tomorrow for those who still might want to check it out.

[SteelTown]

Building collapses on Dundas street

August 06, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton Fire Department reports the second floor of a King Street East building in Dundas has collapsed into the first floor.

The collapse took place just before 3 p.m.

Debris is spilling from the building onto the street.

Gas and hydro have been turned off to the building. There are no reports of injury.

Check thespec.com for more updates.

[SteelTown]

Roof collapses on Dundas building

August 06, 2008
Spectator staff

The roof of a two-storey building housing a business and a residential unit collapsed on King Street East in Dundas today, but no one was hurt.

Burlington Roofing was putting a new roof on the building when it collapsed at 2:40 p.m., said Hamilton police Staff Sergeant Bob Watts.

Three roofers were working on top of the structure at the time.

“You could hear everything cracking,” said Al Robson, who fell six feet into the roof’s interior along with one other worker.

Watts said the collapse pulled siding off the building’s face on the upper level and exposed three rooms in the apartment used as a residence by the owner of the business below, Sure Print and Copy Centres.

King Street East was closed between Main Street and York Road.

City building inspectors are on site to determine whether to repair the building or order it pulled down.

Watts said the wood frame of the structure was clearly rotting.

[thistleclub]

From the city...

Roof Collapse at 3 King Street East, Dundas

HAMILTON, ON - August 6, 2008 - At approximately 2:45 p.m. today firefighting crews from Hamilton Emergency Services responded to a report of a collapsed building at 3 King Street East in Dundas.

Upon arrival, firefighters found that the roof had collapsed in this two-storey building. During the collapse, the roof also pushed out the outside face of the front second floor wall, causing it to fall onto the street below.

There were three roofing company employees working on the roof at the time. They had just completed removal of the roof's shingles when they heard sounds of the roof starting to collapse, and were able to safely evacuate themselves from the roof area.

A full interior search of the building by firefighters confirmed that no one else was on the second floor of the building; people were found in the commercial establishment on the first floor and were removed by firefighters.

At the time of this Release, Building Department officials were on the scene assessing the structural integrity of the building and working to determine if any demolition would be required.

There were no reported injuries to firefighters or residents.

Damage estimates will not be available until a full structural assessment of the building has been completed.

[flar]

I took a walk down there after supper, the building in question was part of an old wooden row with a print shop on the bottom floor and an apartment on the second floor. The roof was gone and the front wall of the second floor was gone. The apartment looked like a toy dollhouse where the wall opens up, everything was perfectly in place, pictures hanging on the walls and a television sitting right on the edge of the second floor against where the wall used to be. They were cleaning up the debris, it looks like a lot of the wood was black and rotten. I forgot my camera.

[flar]

In other Dundas news, renovations are complete on the old hotel pictured up at the top of this thread. There is one commercial space still available, the other spaces are filled, with Discount Emporium, Bark and Fitz, D.V. Handcrafted Jewelry and Blur Eyewear.

A tower crane should be going up soon for a 9-storey condo on Ogilvie St. as well. Right now they have dug the hole for underground parking and are filling it with cement.

[SteelTown]

Christmas tree at bakery caught fire: customers
Business destroyed; apartments above shop damaged

January 02, 2010
Carmela Fragomeni
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/697584

DUNDAS – A downtown Dundas bakery and two of three apartments upstairs have been destroyed after a morning fire disrupted business in the area’s core.

Fire broke out at Village Bakery at 65 King Street West around 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Customers inside at the time say a large Christmas tree caught fire and the flames spread quickly.

The shop was evacuated quickly and the tenants upstairs in the three apartments were alerted. Everyone made it out safely and no one was injured.

Smoke engulfed the downtown as the blaze tore through the building. It’s believed the fire caused damage to buildings on either side of the bakery.

Hydro was cut to the downtown for a time, but it has since been restored to most businesses.

Firefighters remain at the scene and are awaiting city building staff to assess the outside front of the building to ensure the outside wall is secure and won’t collpase.

No damage estimate was immediately available.

[SteelTown]

Ugh so sad to see, one of my favourite bakery in the City.

[highwater]

Very sad indeed. I hope they can rebuild. My hubby works in Dundas and it was his favourite place. Best coffee in Dundas according to him.

[realcity]

I hate Dundas

[LikeHamilton]

Originally Posted by realcity

I hate Dundas

OK I'm bored and I'll bite....Why?

[SteelTown]

Raising the dough to help town bakery
Dundas shows its heart of gold in fire aftermath

January 07, 2010
John Burman
The Hamilton Spectator
DUNDAS
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/698332

The Village Bakery will be back.

Owner Susan Preston is looking for a location, just days after her bakery went up in flames due to a fault in lights on the store Christmas tree Saturday morning.

It's possible she could return to the same King Street West building.

Where it will go depends on the condition of the building or what other sites are available, she says.

"I'd love to be downtown again," Preston said yesterday as she prepared to tour the gutted bakery with the insurance adjuster. "There's nothing left, they want to write everything off.

"There is definitely no way I can't not start again. In some form, I will be back again."

That wasn't how she felt Saturday after battling the flaming Christmas tree with two fire extinguishers only to see it flare up again into an inferno at 10:30 a.m. with a store full of customers.

Staff and customers and the tenants living above the bakery all got out safely.

"Saturday and Sunday I was so sick about it all ... I just wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere," she says. "But my friends wouldn't let me."

Those friends, customers and business neighbours in downtown Dundas have been busy whipping up support for Preston, her staff and the occupants of two apartments burned out and another that suffered heavy smoke damage above the store.

First they jumped on Facebook and set up a page at Fans of The Village Bakery in Dundas. There are now more than 530 fans and the number is rising.

They posted pictures of their kids' birthday cakes or plates of cookies enjoyed long ago and talked about how much the bakery means to them. Then the fans got down to brass tacks, planning how they could help.

Among their plans is a cash collection at Fortinos on Main Street West in Hamilton this weekend to benefit the tenants who lost possessions in the fire, says Preston.

Also in the works are two big benefits.

The first is at Knox Presbyterian Church in Dundas Saturday Jan. 23, 6 to 9 p.m. with the proceeds to go to the bakery's staff who have been left with no income.

The second will be Feb. 13 at the Dundas Lions Memorial Community Centre on Market Street, a day-long affair organizers hope will start with a pancake breakfast, an auction in the afternoon and a dinner and dance in the evening. Details are still in the works.

Preston started baking in her kitchen with her sister Sheree Veevers when the two of them pooled what money they had -- about $200 --and bought ingredients to make and sell cookies so they could buy Christmas presents for their kids.

That was in 1995, the cookies were a huge success, and the sisters never looked back. The business grew, moving into a tiny 400-square foot space downtown in March 1998.

Along the way, Veevers's real estate career blossomed, demanding more of her time, and the bakery was moved to its present rented location, behind the quaint double doors Susan fell in love with around Thanksgiving Day 2005.

The outpouring of support has overwhelmed Preston. And she's moved by the town's support for the others in the building.

"I had no idea I would have this kind of support ... and love," she says.

"It has been unbelievable. I feel so bad for all the business, those poor people upstairs who have no home."

Customers have been dropping off their phone numbers with offers to help paint wherever she re-opens.

"They have been awesome," she says. "Dundas is a wonderful town."

[oldcoote]

The power of the internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX_3DrbYfqw