I did notice one thing I like a lot, which is that they added another two floors of less structured brick above the first two floors. It will look a lot less crushed with 4 floors of brick compared to 2. I'm also glad this street is getting retail, on both Jackson and James. These new builds always have such boring commercial, like dentists, hair salons and such, so it'll never be lovely down this street most likely, but it will add a little bit of life to an otherwise dead street. Hamilton's main issue is that all the commercial is down a few stretches. Hamilton needs secondary commercial streets so that those essential businesses can get cheaper rents. Downtown really struggles with necessities. With so many new commercial units coming online in the coming years through some of these new builds, there will be a lot of new businesses.
Now to just get Darko to rent out any of his commercial units. At least Liuna will rent them out immediately most likely.
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Hamilton Downtown. Huge tabletop skyline fan. Typically viewing the city from the street, not a helicopter. Cycling, transit and active transportation advocate 🚲🚍🚋
CoreUrban has been trying to lease it's space on King St for years now with no success. COVID has screwed the restaurant industry a lot.
With the increase in residential population downtown over the next few years I expect commercial demand to shift to include more local services like things like dentists, barbers, banks, LCBO, Grocers, etc.
Regardless of final tenants downtown Hamilton is looking up and I can't wait to see what ends up occupying the spaces and seeing the new residents on the streets.
CoreUrban has been trying to lease it's space on King St for years now with no success. COVID has screwed the restaurant industry a lot.
With the increase in residential population downtown over the next few years I expect commercial demand to shift to include more local services like things like dentists, barbers, banks, LCBO, Grocers, etc.
Regardless of final tenants downtown Hamilton is looking up and I can't wait to see what ends up occupying the spaces and seeing the new residents on the streets.
King St in that section is a hard sell. All the units surrounding the Gore are vacant, banks, or franchises or quiet asian restaurants. King St there itself is loud and uninviting. With LRT making the street more pleasant, more units filling in across the Gore and thousands of new residents they'll be able to fill that space in no time. Just a waiting game. The same way Core Urban's restaurants on James N filled up immediately because the street is well trafficked by pedestrians, King St will fill once King becomes more travelled by people willing to spend some money.
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Hamilton Downtown. Huge tabletop skyline fan. Typically viewing the city from the street, not a helicopter. Cycling, transit and active transportation advocate 🚲🚍🚋
I didn't get a chance to snap a pic, but last time I walked by (last week) I noticed that they had excavated almost the entire lot down to one floor below grade. Things seem to be kicking off on this one.
In that lot you could literally build three City Halls. Hopefully if they build back there, they can include a nice court yard in the middle between CH and a proposed build out.
Agreed, the lot behind City Hall is a massive amount of wasted space. Ridiculous.
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"Above all, Hamilton must learn to think like a city, not a suburban hybrid where residents drive everywhere. What makes Hamilton interesting is the fact it's a city. The sprawl that surrounds it, which can be found all over North America, is running out of time."
The proposal for behind City Hall is vapourware; don't pin your hopes on it. It should absolutely be developed, but that won't be how it's done, and those won't be the proponents behind it.
The liuna building is still one of the best preserved buildings of its time downtown - from the cornice right down to the stone foundation, and the stone entrance it's in excellent shape
I would love to have known what was originally around it though.
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