Métro City Condos | ?m | 3 x 20 fl | Proposed

[LRTfan]

for the gazillionth time, nobody is advocating height for height's sake. We're pushing back against the NIMBY's because WE NEED HOMES FOR HUMAN BEINGS TO LIVE IN. A city as stagnant, and with our job market shouldn't see such housing pressure like we currently do. A total lack of new inventory in the urban city the last 40 years is a huge reason why. And I get why builders weren't building anything here the last 40 years. People were fleeing, not coming.
Now, people are starting to trickle back and builders are seeing opportunity to add thousands of new units here, and city hall decides to revert back to it's closed for business mantra.

[king10]

Originally Posted by LRTfan

for the gazillionth time, nobody is advocating height for height's sake. We're pushing back against the NIMBY's because WE NEED HOMES FOR HUMAN BEINGS TO LIVE IN. A city as stagnant, and with our job market shouldn't see such housing pressure like we currently do. A total lack of new inventory in the urban city the last 40 years is a huge reason why. And I get why builders weren't building anything here the last 40 years. People were fleeing, not coming.
Now, people are starting to trickle back and builders are seeing opportunity to add thousands of new units here, and city hall decides to revert back to it's closed for business mantra.

Again the DC exemptions, tax abatement program and other various BIA incentives including the Downtown Community Improvement plan do not scream “closed for business”. They total tens of millions in developer incentives. They as well as the increased property values are what is driving developers to build downtown as it is profitable whereas 30 years ago it was not. The city definitely gets some things wrong but to say its closed for business and actively thwarting investment is really reaching.

We’re going to get thousands of homes for human beings to live in in the core whether theyre spread across 30 story towers or 50 story towers.

Also I’m not sure about the jobs market reference. Hamilton has had lower unemployment rates than the Province and Country for close to a decade now. The downtown has also increased the amount of people working in the core.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by king10

Again the DC exemptions, tax abatement program and other various BIA incentives including the Downtown Community Improvement plan do not scream “closed for business”. They total tens of millions in developer incentives. They as well as the increased property values are what is driving developers to build downtown as it is profitable whereas 30 years ago it was not. The city definitely gets some things wrong but to say its closed for business and actively thwarting investment is really reaching.

We’re going to get thousands of homes for human beings to live in in the core whether theyre spread across 30 story towers or 50 story towers.

Also I’m not sure about the jobs market reference. Hamilton has had lower unemployment rates than the Province and Country for close to a decade now. The downtown has also increased the amount of people working in the core.

This is the thing. Hamilton could likely fit 3 million people in it's currently footprint. I like tall buildings, and there should be some in the core, but not every building needs to be 50 storeys. This is a terrible location for a tall tower.

[atnor]

It’s pretty stupid to say the city isn’t open for business if they want the developer to shave off a few floors. Having worked issuing permits, I can confidently say developers get a lot free passes.

[davidcappi]

Id be more forgiving about the height if the design of the podium and towers wasn't lazy and uninspired. I mean, I can't even comprehend what the podium design is trying to say. That white precast detailing has zero order or design sense to it, and the towers are dark and monolithic. I'm genuinely shocked (just kidding I'm not shocked at all) that they just decided to copy paste each tower, instead of giving each one a unique treatment. They couldn't even bother to rotate each of the buildings to give some dimension. From a distance these things will merge together into one giant superstructure of grey precast and spandrel.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by davidcappi

Id be more forgiving about the height if the design of the podium and towers wasn't lazy and uninspired. I mean, I can't even comprehend what the podium design is trying to say. That white precast detailing has zero order or design sense to it, and the towers are dark and monolithic. I'm genuinely shocked (just kidding I'm not shocked at all) that they just decided to copy paste each tower, instead of giving each one a unique treatment. They couldn't even bother to rotate each of the buildings to give some dimension. From a distance these things will merge together into one giant superstructure of grey precast and spandrel.

David and I don't often agree, but I do have to agree with him here on a design perspective - it is rather uninspired. Then again designs often change throughout their approval process.. maybe this one will too, if it gets approved at all.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

David and I don't often agree, but I do have to agree with him here on a design perspective - it is rather uninspired. Then again designs often change throughout their approval process.. maybe this one will too, if it gets approved at all.

This isn't the final render...

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

This isn't the final render...

I'll wait to see what the final render looks like.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

I'll wait to see what the final render looks like.

Yeah, those were primary. You're still going to get a modernized, high-rise style, but it will look different than the primary renders.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

Yeah, those were primary. You're still going to get a modernized, high-rise style, but it will look different than the primary renders.

I just tire of rectangular boxes, boxy jutouts and glass, that seems to be all people can design these days. Thus every building ends up now looking like the building they built in burlington at the go train station.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

I just tire of rectangular boxes, boxy jutouts and glass, that seems to be all people can design these days. Thus every building ends up now looking like the building they built in burlington at the go train station.

These modern designs are still innovative for Hamilton, a city that has been stuck in the 70's and 80's for forever... it's a step forward.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

These modern designs are still innovative for Hamilton, a city that has been stuck in the 70's and 80's for forever... it's a step forward.

Meeeeeh lol.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Meeeeeh lol.

The designs that you mention are happening only in larger cities (i.e. Toronto, New York, etc) Hamilton isn't near those cities. It doesn't mean those designs won't ever happen in Hamilton, but I don't forsee them happening tomorrow.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

The designs that you mention are happening only in larger cities (i.e. Toronto, New York, etc) Hamilton isn't near those cities. It doesn't mean those designs won't ever happen in Hamilton, but I don't forsee them happening tomorrow.

Good. They can stay over there. *shoos* lol

I want to see more modern re-imaginings of older historic buildings like we have been doing here.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Good. They can stay over there. *shoos* lol

I want to see more modern re-imaginings of older historic buildings like we have been doing here.

Yeah, but these buildings we're talking about (Metro) don't exist yet and the current things that sit on this land are, a parking lot, and an older, non-historic rental building (which we still lease) This would be a new build. There's nothing worthy of really preserving on this land.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

Yeah, but these buildings we're talking about (Metro) don't exist yet and the current things that sit on this land are, a parking lot, and an older, non-historic rental building (which we still lease) This would be a new build. There's nothing worthy of really preserving on this land.

There is nothing that says you have to have an old building to preserve to have a combination of old and new. We still know how to build the old buildings - we can still quarry the stone and apply the brick. We can hire artisans to carve the stone and add the cornices and elements. Nothing to say we can't REBUILD old styles and combine them with new styles.

In my ideal world, the buildings you see at street level would all be treated visually separately from the ones above it - kinda like the william thomas building - so you could have traditional styles on the bottom and have a unified streetscape and then you can have modern soaring towers on top.

[lachlanholmes]

I don't remember these being shared here:

















All these images are extracted from the DRP presentation uploaded here.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Jebus...

[TheRitsman]

Those are the updated renders right?

I still think the city should allow taller podiums if they want to reduce height. A 3 storey podium on this just looks silly.

Allow them to go to 5 storey podium and reduce height by 3 storeys off the top. They can get an extra 2 storeys if they put in office space, 1 storey for having bicycle parking indoors, and an extra storey for car share and an extra 2 storeys for indoor public parking. Boom, there you go, I just did city policy better than the city.

[ScreamingViking]

That's a pretty big lop off the top.