Downtown Update

[hmagazine]

Its not the friendliest looking stretch of retail. COuld change when they finish the ground floor details off....but I'm afraid that what's there is finished.

The retail at The Gore Building is still empty and its a much more busier stretch than the Terraces...

[FRM]

a new paralegal office opened in the building next to london tap house which was renovated at the same time as LTH. anyone know what's going on on the top floors?

[SteelTown]

Community centre gets the go ahead
Ken Mann
2/3/2009

An important project is moving forward in one of the city's neediest neighbourhoods.

Hamilton's planning committee has approved a zoning change which will allow for the building of a community center in conjunction with construction of the new Dr. Davey School on Ferguson Avenue North.

The center will create a community hub in an extremely multi-cultural neighbourhood, where more than 40 ethnicities are represented.

The project is to be completed by September of 2010.

[SteelTown]

Tonight on CBC there's a doucumentary called "Living City". Christopher Hume takes a cross-country journey to explore the sustainability, viability and liveability of Canada's population centres. Sounds interesting!!

Premiering On: Thursday February 5, 2009 at 8 pm on CBC-TV

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2009/livingcity/index.html

[flar]

I doubt he goes to Hamilton, but still could be interesting.

[adam]

You should send him some links to your Hamilton photo galleries

[block43]

There is a rendering of the new hotel going up where the modern india buffet was at Walnut and Main....looks decent but didn't have a camera with me.

[emge]

I'll take a look on my way by today. Do you remember what names (chain, developer, architects etc.) were on it?

[block43]

Sorry, can't remember

[FRM]

from the bus all i could see was "HOTEL INN AND SUITES" building rendering looked decent.

[Lukey]

And modern India Buffet moved to Caroline and Main, where Hypnotiq used to be.

[emge]

The ugly white brick building at 370 Main Street East (beside the school - its the building where David Christopherson was set up during the last election) has signs and renderings up for a 2009 renovation.

It looks like they're basically putting in more glass at street level and a few awnings up along with a few minor changes. I'll try to snap a picture of the renderings soon.

[SteelTown]

Westside wins zoning fix

February 18, 2009
Rob Faulkner
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/515487

The show goes on at the Westside Concert Theatre, a King Street West entertainment venue that ran into a quirky zoning problem.

The 434 King St. W. theatre, which Loren Lieberman and Colin Lapsley bought in 2005, began life as a theatre but somehow lost that permitted use over the decades.

That meant the pair had to get special-event permits each time they used the theatre as a concert hall. But yesterday brought some relief.

The city's planning and economic development committee passed zoning amendments to add "commercial entertainment" facility to the Westside's allowed uses. It can host cinema, live theatre, dance and cultural events but not adult entertainment or an arcade.

"We are pleased," said Lieberman, who also organizes the Festival of Friends. "But it's not like today fixes everything."

He said the five-month wait was hard due to lost revenue. The zoning decision, which needs final council approval, doesn't guarantee him a liquor licence quickly or speed up city inspections.

Ironically, the site began life as a movie theatre in the 1930s. It became a CHCH TV studio in 1960. Lieberman and Lapsley bought it from Big Bang Studios and invested cash to make it a site for events from weddings to live theatre.

Only when they decided to seek a bar licence, instead of special-event permits, did they learn of the zoning that didn't allow a theatre. The change to the TV studio in 1960 dropped public hall as one of the site's permitted uses.

"We had assumed that because it was a theatre, that we were a theatre," Lieberman said.

He didn't want to guess how long it would take for the Westside to get a bar licence and pass various fire, building and health inspections.

[SteelTown]

Downtown Update........

• The site plan for 62 new residential units in the Lyric Century Apartments, 14 Mary Street, was finalized and approved in 2008.

• A site plan has also been submitted for an outdoor patio at the northwest corner of Bay and King Streets. The current Red Lion Inn is slated to undergo substantial renovations.

• Negotiations continue regarding Education Square, the potential future site of McMaster University’s School of Family Medicine, to be developed in conjunction with the City of Hamilton’s Public Health Department, future commercial/hotel development, and possibly the new administrative office for the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. This project is on the site of the current School Board head office.

• The development proposed on the south side of Main Street West, between Hess and Caroline streets features Shoppers Drug Mart, LCBO and other retail uses, and a municipally leased parking structure to serve the adjacent Hess Village Entertainment District. Ongoing negotiations include the possibility of introducing residential units to this mixed-use development concept.

• The Staybridge Suites Hotel at 118 Market Street is proposed to relocate to a new facility to be built at 137 Main Street West. The sale of the existing hotel to new owners who will convert it to a seniors residence was negotiated in 2008, prompting construction at the new site.

[emge]

I've always thought it was insane the Red Lion Inn hadn't been redeveloped a long time ago - that's the perfect corner to put a great hotel with a street-level tourist shop for those coming in and out of Copps, and a Starbucks or something of the like - a decent cafe wouldn't want for customers between the businesses during the day and Copps' events at night.

I wonder what the actual renovation will consist of, however.

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by emge

I've always thought it was insane the Red Lion Inn hadn't been redeveloped a long time ago - that's the perfect corner to put a great hotel with a street-level tourist shop for those coming in and out of Copps, and a Starbucks or something of the like - a decent cafe wouldn't want for customers between the businesses during the day and Copps' events at night.

I wonder what the actual renovation will consist of, however.

agreed

some developer should buy up the entire block.

[highwater]

Got anyone in mind?

[adam]

I am sure the city would attract many more commercial tenants to fill empty buildings if they put in street parking along Main and King. How can potential shoppers/clients stop anywhere if there is no street parking? Its absolutely bizarre. Street parking also provides a buffer between buildings and traffic. Nobody wants a shop next to a highway.

[Jon Dalton]

There's also the parking lot behind that row of buildings, and the huge one across the street. But yes, street parking is usually a positive thing.

[emge]

I remember hearing from a few businesses on King West a month or two ago -- how the pay street parking works well for their businesses, but when it becomes free on-street parking over the holidays it gets taken up by the residents of the surrounding apartments because it's now free... and their customers who would normally park on the street parking now have to try and find a lot, and it really hurts business.

I also remember when we first moved here, before we sold our cars -- it was much, much easier to just pull over downtown (I'm thinking King East now), even if it was pay parking, than try to find a lot, even if it was just across the corner. When you're talking about customers who drive (and depending on the business you'll have more or less of those) it does make it so much easier for them to stop.