Cobalt Luxury Residences On King | 97.5 & 97.5m | 2 x 30 fl | Complete

[SteelTown]

https://twitter.com/urbanicityHAM

[thmx]

7/30/2023 by Joe, on Flickr


8/3/2023 by Joe, on Flickr

[Chronamut]

Have they revealed the front of the building yet on ground level?

[urban_planner]

no,but there is some red brick on at least a portion.

[TheHonestMaple]

Taken today. I wanted to get a better shot of the podium on King William. I think it turned out really nice.

[StEC]

I love that podium, it's going to blend in quite nicely with the King William St vibes.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by StEC

I love that podium, it's going to blend in quite nicely with the King William St vibes.

Definitely looks better than any of us expected it to that's for sure..

[Berklon]

I was riding downtown on Friday and got a chance to see the podium up close and really liked it. The picture above gives it an even better perspective as I can see it in it's entirety. It looks even better in the picture.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

Taken today. I wanted to get a better shot of the podium on King William. I think it turned out really nice.

Thank you! I haven't been on King William in a while, but this looks fantastic.

Hopefully we'll see more built east of John in the coming years (and especially on that glaringly empty space at James!). Doesn't have to be 30+ floors, or even 15-25...

[PaperSun]

Looks really good, walked by today it appears like they are prepping to do the boulevard works along King William. Curious what it will include.

[TheHonestMaple]

The higher aerial shots I take really show how much more 'urban' Hamilton is than its rival KW. Once we finally get the LRT, I expect Hamilton to completely take off with its own momentum. A an actual destination for employment, tourism, the arts, etc.

[ScreamingViking]

Shared the wider angle on the Canada forum. Because it should be!

[TheHonestMaple]

One thing I have noticed is that the entrances on King William don't really seem like restaurant entrances, if that makes sense? No vestibules, and just single doors. Do we know for sure that those are even commercial units? I was really hoping that those units would be restaurants and bars, but we haven't heard anything about that yet.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Thank you! I haven't been on King William in a while, but this looks fantastic.

Hopefully we'll see more built east of John in the coming years (and especially on that glaringly empty space at James!). Doesn't have to be 30+ floors, or even 15-25...

Don't expect that "empty space" to ever be anything that high - the city workers work in the lister block right across from it and thus will probably never allow anything much higher than what was originally there to prevent shadowing of the "showcase" building and the patios out front there.

Personally I agree with that concept - anything built there should remain the same height as everything in that strip. It's one thing to build a giant student residence further down but it's another to build condos right on the busiest part of james st or have a parking garage entrance on what people want to be a pedestrian/restaurant corridor that is king william..

john st is far less busy and thus makes more sense to have a giant condo there with a parking garage entrance.. esp taking up so much real estate.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

Taken today. I wanted to get a better shot of the podium on King William. I think it turned out really nice.

Thanks for the recent aerial photos of the area. The podium of this one is the standout feature. And when one sees it from above, it underscores how little structural articulation there actually its. Instead, it is a combination of minor setbacks setbacks and effective use of different materials and irregular bay spacing to create the impression of greater variation and depth. Hats off. This one is coming into home plate in pretty great form.

[TheRitsman]

My only further critique of the podium besides the craftsmanship is the first floor entryways to the commercial space. Not only does the first floor lack the articulations of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor, but the doors all seem to be single doors, which is odd considering the plan in majority of the renders was to have restaurants fill these spaces, and the single doors create this lack of clarity for the entry for the commercial spaces. Beyond that, this is overall a decent build, especially considering it's G&C but I still shiver at the lack of care toward the lintels and cornices where it seems the workers didn't use a measuring tape to ensure the pieces were cut evenly.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Don't expect that "empty space" to ever be anything that high - the city workers work in the lister block right across from it and thus will probably never allow anything much higher than what was originally there to prevent shadowing of the "showcase" building and the patios out front there.

Personally I agree with that concept - anything built there should remain the same height as everything in that strip. It's one thing to build a giant student residence further down but it's another to build condos right on the busiest part of james st or have a parking garage entrance on what people want to be a pedestrian/restaurant corridor that is king william..

As I wrote, "Doesn't have to be 30+ floors, or even 15-25" -- so I don't expect a large tower. Something 6 floors high would be just fine to me, though I'd rather see a building similar in scale to what's gone up farther east at Ferguson or a point tower on a podium that's similar height to the surrounding buildings, and it's a fairly large lot so there's space to get creative with it. However up to 30 storeys is allowed on that property in the downtown secondary plan, so the opinions of "city workers" in the Lister may not count for much.

[Innsertnamehere]

it's zoned for 30 and is a largish lot so will more than likely be 30 whenever it is developed. Not sure who owns it right now however - that information would be a good indicator of what to expect in terms of development timelines.

From what I recall it's one of a bunch of lots owned by one of the DeSantis brothers - not sure which one though. Neither of which have really done high density development yet, either.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

As I wrote, "Doesn't have to be 30+ floors, or even 15-25" -- so I don't expect a large tower. Something 6 floors high would be just fine to me, though I'd rather see a building similar in scale to what's gone up farther east at Ferguson or a point tower on a podium that's similar height to the surrounding buildings, and it's a fairly large lot so there's space to get creative with it. However up to 30 storeys is allowed on that property in the downtown secondary plan, so the opinions of "city workers" in the Lister may not count for much.

It does when the planning dept is the one approving it and it directly affects THEIR building lol.. city nimbyism hahaha..

if i had to guess it probably will be smaller on the corner and step up to higher the farther back it goes into the plot. So it might still be tall but it won't be directly fronting the king william side street like a giant slab like the lister block does, but obv. much higher.

That of course assumes that plot will EVER get developed.. I actually liked the look of the buildings that were originally on that plot - I felt they were more harmonious with that strip. Tall for the sake of tall is never a good solution - it should fit with everything around it.

[mikevbar1]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

It does when the planning dept is the one approving it and it directly affects THEIR building lol.. city nimbyism hahaha..

if i had to guess it probably will be smaller on the corner and step up to higher the farther back it goes into the plot. So it might still be tall but it won't be directly fronting the king william side street like a giant slab like the lister block does, but obv. much higher.

That of course assumes that plot will EVER get developed.. I actually liked the look of the buildings that were originally on that plot - I felt they were more harmonious with that strip. Tall for the sake of tall is never a good solution - it should fit with everything around it.

This is what I would expect. The owners of the lot know what they have, and know what they can-and will- do with it. 30 stories is a given for any downtown lot in my books at this point, given that we can’t go taller in some places to make others shorter elsewhere. That said, setbacks are more than called for on the lot in question, and not just to bring visual attention to King William, but also to respect James’ street wall. The question I always ask is if the city actually has the competence to ensure that the eventual development considers these things. There are too many instances already where there is no conventional urban design wisdom considered. While it’s created an “organic” charm that exemplifies the raw market interest in the Hammer rather than some artificially induced ‘growth’ (Yknow those small districts in rust belt cities that end as quick as they start) , sometimes we need that attention to detail, and the city hasn’t provided it thus far. Sometimes it feels like it would literally kill us (or a project, I suppose) to make such small asks.

Still, developers have shown before that the more valuable their lot, the more they’ll put into bells and whistles to make it nice. This isn’t the edge of downtown, this is the part of the core that’s been desirable since before I was born AFAIK. I expect a quality brick treatment (or something of similar quality) on the podium at a minimum for anything proposed on James for the foreseeable future. In short, a developer couldn’t get away with the Vranich (“ikea”) treatment!