64 Main St East | ? m | 18 fl | Approved

[Crapht]

I don’t dislike this design. It’s far from exceptional or unique but good materials will make it a nice addition to a completely transformed Main Street. If it gets built. Part of me wishes the developer could sell the remaining 12 stories to another property developer to make another 30 floor proposal into a 42 storey building. Haha.

[mikevbar1]

I'm in agreement with Chronamut here that the original designs were more interesting. If we could get that, It'd be great, but unfortunately I think they were just render candy...

Even I can acknowledge that going with "GTA Standard" architecture instead of "Hamilton standard" Isn't a high enough bar. The quality/effort should match the character/prominence of the location. Like, cmon, just clearing new-builds in the city as it is today is like patting yourself on the back for not studying for the exam, but doing better than the guy who doesn't even go to class (Vranich I guess). Now this IS better than the last version, but that Isn't saying much. It's pretty plain, and while there is retail, which is a low bar to set, its only one unit by the looks of it.

I'll cut the facade some slack because It's brick, and you need to really cheap out to screw it up. So, tentative pass there; better brick than not. Now, I can appreciate how the massing is broken up so proportions match the width of the next-door lowrises. Whoever did the design has at least some idea of being contextual. But if you're gonna do that, why not go a little further with it (like the old designs!)?. This type of massing contextualism isn't even particularly necessary here given the primo spot; blend in when you have nothing better to say than your neighbors, but show out when you do!

Really my gripe is that this should be a standout. It's really not that hard to just propose 30s downtown nowadays. If I owned this, I'd even wait and see what the OLT says about the Jackson proposal so I could disregard the height limit. but let's look past that. Even trying to blend in when you're already going comparatively short guarantees this is gonna be forgotten. Why would you want that?? To get it over with with a 5/10 instead of a 2/10, when you have a rare opportunity to go 10 for 10?

Overall, this would literally be fine if it wasn't on Main and John. Quite acceptable even for a background building really. But that's not what it's going to be, so put in some effort! If I were in charge of saying y/n, I'd probably ask them to go taller and make it stand out- even if only 30s. Something like this at Spadina:





Its not overly tall, not too crazy. But it feels like something out of 1930s NYC just by virtue of the setbacks, colours/materials and how it just draws your eyes up. And a healthy dose of curves to make it interesting. Its not the Taj Mahal or even the Royal Connaught, but its way more pleasant to look at than the buildings next door and is a breath of fresh air that likely won't break the bank.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by mikevbar1

I'm in agreement with Chronamut here that the original designs were more interesting. If we could get that, It'd be great, but unfortunately I think they were just render candy...

Even I can acknowledge that going with "GTA Standard" architecture instead of "Hamilton standard" Isn't a high enough bar. The quality/effort should match the character/prominence of the location. Like, cmon, just clearing new-builds in the city as it is today is like patting yourself on the back for not studying for the exam, but doing better than the guy who doesn't even go to class (Vranich I guess). Now this IS better than the last version, but that Isn't saying much. It's pretty plain, and while there is retail, which is a low bar to set, its only one unit by the looks of it.

I'll cut the facade some slack because It's brick, and you need to really cheap out to screw it up. So, tentative pass there; better brick than not. Now, I can appreciate how the massing is broken up so proportions match the width of the next-door lowrises. Whoever did the design has at least some idea of being contextual. But if you're gonna do that, why not go a little further with it (like the old designs!)?. This type of massing contextualism isn't even particularly necessary here given the primo spot; blend in when you have nothing better to say than your neighbors, but show out when you do!

Really my gripe is that this should be a standout. It's really not that hard to just propose 30s downtown nowadays. If I owned this, I'd even wait and see what the OLT says about the Jackson proposal so I could disregard the height limit. but let's look past that. Even trying to blend in when you're already going comparatively short guarantees this is gonna be forgotten. Why would you want that?? To get it over with with a 5/10 instead of a 2/10, when you have a rare opportunity to go 10 for 10?

Overall, this would literally be fine if it wasn't on Main and John. Quite acceptable even for a background building really. But that's not what it's going to be, so put in some effort! If I were in charge of saying y/n, I'd probably ask them to go taller and make it stand out- even if only 30s. Something like this at Spadina:

Its not overly tall, not too crazy. But it feels like something out of 1930s NYC just by virtue of the setbacks, colours/materials and how it just draws your eyes up. And a healthy dose of curves to make it interesting. Its not the Taj Mahal or even the Royal Connaught, but its way more pleasant to look at than the buildings next door and is a breath of fresh air that likely won't break the bank.

TOTALLY agreed, well said man, its more the fact it feels like not enough effort has put in AND where the location is - as soon as you get into the core I get SUPER critical. That's the "class" area of the city, look around you, see the old buildings, don't look at landmark place lol..

I hope they redesign this, and yes I'd take that render you posted over this.

[Innsertnamehere]

There was a crew with a skid steer and some sort of large soil sampling or pile driver rig on site today.

[TheHonestMaple]

Lots of activity on site here today. I wonder if we'll see construction start sooner than we thought.

[Markus83]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

There were some floorplans in that 2009 version LikeHamilton had originally shared. Presumably the 2010 'resurrection edition' kept a similar layout.

Residential "suites":

OOof, those are small aren't they. Even at that price it would befit really a single person with a super tiny dog. Today though, I wonder what the cost of such square footage would look like in comparison.
YYikeSS!! .....I just scared myself!

[StEC]

Damn wow those are crazy small. Were these the actual floorplans for the condos or the hotel suites because these look more like hotel suites? I hope the current planned iteration has larger units or this will just be another AirBnB building.

[Innsertnamehere]

Those are basically typical 1-bedroom suite sizes in Toronto today - but yea, small for the Hamilton market. Especially back then.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Approved. https://x.com/JoeyColeman/status/184...27797%2Fpage-3

[SteelTown]

Can Toronto developer break the jinx on long-vacant downtown site?
Core Development Group plans 18 storeys at the corner of Main and John

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...cd4c4f582.html

A weedy, fenced-off former gas station site in downtown Hamilton that seems to have jinxed more than one builder over the years is once again primed for development.

This time around, Toronto-based Core Development Group Ltd. is taking a stab at 64 Main St. E. at the southeast corner of John Street.

The plan for an 18-storey building with 272 residential units and 3,485 square feet of ground-floor commercial space got the green light from the committee of adjustment Tuesday.

“It’s tall, but I don’t think it will be out of place in the neighbourhood,” planning consultant Jared Marcus said after the committee granted approvals for minor variances needed to move the project forward.

The future building is to rise from the grassy lot across just south of the 13-storey Royal Connaught condos, where future plans for more than 30 storeys stand to “dwarf” it, Marcus noted.

Just to the east at Catharine Street, Landmark Place towers 43 storeys.

One of the key minor variances his client sought from the committee was to allow a rooftop amenity space on the building.

Marcus noted his firm has been with 64 Main since 2017, when the property’s previous owner invested in similar highrise plans for the contaminated land before going bankrupt.

It wasn’t the first time that ambitions for the erstwhile gas bar property kitty-corner from John Sopinka Courthouse ran empty.

Starting in 2009, developer Harry Stinson envisioned the Hamilton Grand, a boutique hotel and condo project, but it never got off the ground after more than one false start.

He went on to build condos in the former Stinson School in 2013 and has planned condos at the old Cannon Knitting Mills in the Beasley neighbourhood since 2016.

With minor variances in hand through the committee of adjustment, Core Development Group has fine-tuning through the city’s site-plan approval stage.

His clients must also tackle contamination left by the gas station on the site, where monitoring wells were installed some years ago, Marcus noted.

But once through the site-plan process, they’re “ready to move forward,” he said.

[ScreamingViking]

Let's hope, finally. And then for something on that plaza to the east (I'm aware something was proposed), and the parking lot to the west at Hughson.

[Chronamut]

Is it just me or does hamilton always wait until a render has all the character stripped from it, THEN approve it? The one across from our monstrosity of an alien dog park comes to mind.. as well as this one..