Downtown Update

[Markus83]

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[Markus83]

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[TheHonestMaple]

Apparently 206 King Street East recently sold. Check out freshbrick_hamilton on Instagram for some pics. Looks like a great spot.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

Apparently 206 King Street East recently sold. Check out freshbrick_hamilton on Instagram for some pics. Looks like a great spot.

Hopefully some nice renos are done to it. Open up those upper windows, and house a business again. I don't think it's had anything in it since Forbidden City closed at that location and moved east, and that happened almost a decade ago.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Hopefully some nice renos are done to it. Open up those upper windows, and house a business again. I don't think it's had anything in it since Forbidden City closed at that location and moved east, and that happened almost a decade ago.

Oh thank god FINALLY this place has sold - its been such a run down place for so long - yes put some giant windows back in that facade and really open it up.. it has beautiful iron pillars though - it really needs some tlc.

[Chronamut]

Ok what the HELL is going on with this building? It's been like this for.. quite some time now.. is this what we've come to? Is the facade ever going to be restored or is it just going to forever remain looking like this? It's bizarre..

[matt602]

I was thinking the same when I went by on the bus last night. Ridiculous.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by matt602

I was thinking the same when I went by on the bus last night. Ridiculous.

I mean I get it, the city is literally crumbling it's so old, and that may complicate modern building code standards of repairing it, with the people not being able to afford to, but still, the city should be intervening.. we can't just have dilapidated buildings that are literally falling apart like that - either demolish it or repair it!

It's doubly bizarre because they only recently finished restoring that whole stretch on the right side of the image - I mean I get it, different owners, but still, you got this newly restored area, and this fallen apart piece - that HAS to affect perception of wanting to live in the newly restored part as people wonder about the structural integrity of the row block as a whole..

For reference this is what it looked like last year - so its been sitting like this for at least a year now. You can see in that one part it was literally threatening to collapse - the signs were there.



also what the heck is that chimney thing out front? Is that ventilation ductwork? Bizarre how they structured this..

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

also what the heck is that chimney thing out front? Is that ventilation ductwork? Bizarre how they structured this..

I think it's a vent for the kitchen of a restaurant that was there ("Sheila's Place" based on older street views). But yeah, this repair job is taking a long time!


On another note, I was on the bus through downtown yesterday -- I now live near Gage Park, but used to be off Locke and still take my car to a shop I came to trust in that area -- and it was more clear how much things have changed in the core given the chance to look around. Despite the current state of the residential construction sector, the skyline is VERY different now, with more buildings coming that are under way (213 King W., 41 Wilson, TV City, the one next to the Hampton Inn, etc.). This is unprecedented for Hamilton, over the span of time I've been alive and aware!! The block bound by King-Bay-Main-Caroline alone is completely different.

When I was young, the addition of the Standard Life Centre (now 120 King W.; I recall watching it rise and wondering if it would be very tall!) and especially the Ellen Fairclough Building were a big deal. And later, I recall wondering why the twins of Commerce Place couldn't have simply been stacked on top of each other.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I think it's a vent for the kitchen of a restaurant that was there ("Sheila's Place" based on older street views). But yeah, this repair job is taking a long time!


On another note, I was on the bus through downtown yesterday -- I now live near Gage Park, but used to be off Locke and still take my car to a shop I came to trust in that area -- and it was more clear how much things have changed in the core given the chance to look around. Despite the current state of the residential construction sector, the skyline is VERY different now, with more buildings coming that are under way (213 King W., 41 Wilson, TV City, the one next to the Hampton Inn, etc.). This is unprecedented for Hamilton, over the span of time I've been alive and aware!! The block bound by King-Bay-Main-Caroline alone is completely different.

When I was young, the addition of the Standard Life Centre (now 120 King W.; I recall watching it rise and wondering if it would be very tall!) and especially the Ellen Fairclough Building were a big deal. And later, I recall wondering why the twins of Commerce Place couldn't have simply been stacked on top of each other.

It's cuz they form a giant "H" for hamilton

also I live somewhat near gage park - we should get together sometime and be collectively happy/cynical about the progress of hamilton in person hahaha..

be sure to visit the greenhouse in gage park, it's wonderful in the wintertime

one of the best additions to hamilton for sure

[Crapht]

Just a few things I’ve noticed over the last little while. 1-This week saw the appearance of traffic lights (although not yet functional) at Hunter and Wellington. This intersection has seen some significant improvements over the last few years. Hopefully drivers adapt accordingly. 2 -The bus barn has actually begun preliminary construction as a bunch of dump trucks were removing soil to grade the property recently. There is a lot of activity on site but not much to see from the street. 3 - There has been an addition of a couple of storeys to the apartments bound by Hughson and John at Robert. I haven’t seen much on here about it but it actually looks clean and of course adds some units to the area.
Happy holidays to everyone and best wishes in the new year!

[Innsertnamehere]

The apartments at John Robert are the subject of a pretty controversial Developoment plan which is finally happening. The landlord effectively evicted the tenants of what were mostly larger, old 3-4 bedroom units in the lower podium areas of the building and are adding 2-storeys to them and splitting them up into smaller, 1-2 bedroom units which will rent for far more money.

I too noticed the Hunter and Wellington lights, and that the Bus Barn started construction (finally).

I wonder if the 2-way conversion of Birch from Barton to Burlington St will happen next year as a part of it. The city is planning to reconstruct Birch with a concrete surface like they did between Wilson and Barton a few years ago.. hopefully they do a better job of smoothing the surface as that stretch is awful to drive on.

[in2itv1]

kitchener has three buildings over fifty stories planned

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Originally Posted by in2itv1

kitchener has three buildings over fifty stories planned

"Planned" what are the odds they get built now ?

[ScreamingViking]

There are 4 proposals of 50+ floors. There are two 40-or-over under construction:
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=103616508

But yeah, a proposal is not a guarantee, especially in the current market.

Kitchener likely will have a much taller skyline than Hamilton at some point, especially given the latter's height limit (and the fact the some of the tallest proposals aren't even downtown... Pier 8 being north of downtown, and 5 others among the city's tallest proposals the other 3 in the database are way out by the lakeshore in Stoney Creek plus the two tall ones that have yet to be added more than 11 km away!). Whether Kitchener's skyline ends up being "denser" will depend a lot on what actually gets built and how those towers are clustered.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

There are 4 proposals of 50+ floors. There are two 40-or-over under construction:
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=103616508

But yeah, a proposal is not a guarantee, especially in the current market.

Kitchener likely will have a much taller skyline than Hamilton at some point, especially given the latter's height limit (and the fact the tallest proposals aren't even downtown... Pier 8 being north of downtown, and the other 3 in the database are way out by the lakeshore plus the two tall ones that have yet to be added more than 11 km away!). Whether Kitchener's skyline ends up being "denser" will depend a lot on what actually gets built and how those towers are clustered.

Hey I've been adding a lot to the database recently to more accurately reflect what's going in Hamilton -- which two are you referring to? I look into getting the info and having them added

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Hey I've been adding a lot to the database recently to more accurately reflect what's going in Hamilton -- which two are you referring to? I look into getting the info and having them added

My mistake - I was referring to the two Shoreview Place towers but they're in the database.
(and thank you for making the updates)

[Chronamut]

Doesn't matter what kitchener is doing - higher does not = better, which is something a lot of young people on this forum seem to need to learn - there is more to city planning then height - a functional city with a functional core is what matters - noone notices anything above 6 stories from street level. What does it matter if a condo is 30 stories or 50 stories? Just visual vanity. Look at how big everything is in toronto and it just feels cold windy and heartless. I'd rather things be tastefully done and feel approachable. With all the vraniches out there I really don't want a 50 story commie block monstrosity of randomly mashed together rectangular blockitecture built in our city thank you. We have enough of that garbage architecture as it is.

Only place I wouldn't mind a 50 story block is probably where the city center is because imo all cities should peak in height in the center and then peter off from there to have that nice "pyramid" structure that makes a city look "impressive" like toronto has with the cn tower being the highest thing in the middle.

It's not like we're ever gonna see office buildings be that high anymore - we can't even fill the ones we have - so it's just a matter of "who has the tallest residential towers" - big whoop. At 50 stories you can't even go out onto your balcony without feeling strong winds. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother putting balconies above a certain height - you never see anyone on them.. ever. Maybe for the smokers.. lol..

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Doesn't matter what kitchener is doing - higher does not = better, which is something a lot of young people on this forum seem to need to learn - there is more to city planning then height - a functional city with a functional core is what matters - noone notices anything above 6 stories from street level. What does it matter if a condo is 30 stories or 50 stories? Just visual vanity. Look at how big everything is in toronto and it just feels cold windy and heartless. I'd rather things be tastefully done and feel approachable. With all the vraniches out there I really don't want a 50 story commie block monstrosity of randomly mashed together rectangular blockitecture built in our city thank you. We have enough of that garbage architecture as it is.

Only place I wouldn't mind a 50 story block is probably where the city center is because imo all cities should peak in height in the center and then peter off from there to have that nice "pyramid" structure that makes a city look "impressive" like toronto has with the cn tower being the highest thing in the middle.

It's not like we're ever gonna see office buildings be that high anymore - we can't even fill the ones we have - so it's just a matter of "who has the tallest residential towers" - big whoop. At 50 stories you can't even go out onto your balcony without feeling strong winds. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother putting balconies above a certain height - you never see anyone on them.. ever. Maybe for the smokers.. lol..

I wouldn't say its just "visual vanity"
a nice skyline has some striking tall buildings in the centre... something that makes the city stand out ... and our image problem at the moment is that the only thing that stands out from any important vantage point (QEW Skyway) are our smoke stacks

our buildings fade behind them and blend right into the escarpment. we could definitely use a few tall builds to bring attention to the city.

and yes... mid-rises and infill are important too...but we shouldn't fear the height. there's a reason why every major city in the world builds tall

[Hawrylyshyn]

Higher buildings are can also better help with reducing urban sprawl and improving housing availability