Connaught Tower | 305m | 100 storey | Proposed

[Rico Rommheim]

[SteelTown]

If you wish to hear Stinson himself explain his plans for the Royal Connaught Hotel click on the link....

http://www.900chml.com/station/featu...053&StartRow=1

[flar]

I don't really get the humour. It's not like this is the first condo in Hamilton. And it's not like Stinson has never built a condo project before. Actually the vitriol directed at Stinson is a bit disturbing. I like people who take risks. The world would be pretty boring without people who dream big. They shouldn't be ridiculed.

Anyway, I see no reason why this project shouldn't happen. The Connaught Hotel is a great building and was a functioning hotel just a few years ago. Seems like the perfect building for a condo conversion. A 24hr grocery store is in demand for downtown's growing population. An upscale 5 level restaurant with rooftop patio is nearing completion on the same block, the Lincoln Alexander Conference Centre and Plaza Hotel are under renovations across the street. A condo tower has always been phase II of the plan. Obviously "the Sapphire" won't be plunked down in this spot unmodified but it's a great location for a nice building.

[DC83]

That poster is great!! hahaha
I also really liked his (3D) Pizza Pizza Tower too!
thx 4 a good laugh, Caltrane.

Holy crap! This is for real! I seriously thought this was a joke at first. This will be a sweet project if it goes through.

Originally Posted by flar

I don't really get the humour. It's not like this is the first condo in Hamilton. And it's not like Stinson has never built a condo project before. Actually the vitriol directed at Stinson is a bit disturbing. I like people who take risks. The world would be pretty boring without people who dream big. They shouldn't be ridiculed.

I know this isn't the first condo project in Hamilton. But 250m is MASSIVE and out of place. I like that he's taking a bold risk, but it seems weird for Hamilton to go from buildings like Stelco Tower and regular apartment slabs to a massive, well-designed, world-class project you'd expect to see in Toronto/Chicago/New York, etc.

Originally Posted by flar

Obviously "the Sapphire" won't be plunked down in this spot unmodified but it's a great location for a nice building.

So will it be 250m or not? Is it just what the building could theoretically look like?

[raisethehammer]

Sapphire is phase 2 of the Royal Connaught project.
Phase 1 will begin later this year, if Stinson finalizes the deal on the property.
Phase 1 involves renovating the hotel into a boutique hotel with condos as well as businesses facing King in the old corporate centre (he mentioned a Starbucks and other places like that).
Somewhere in here (I'm not too sure if it's phase 1 or 2) he wants to build a 4 storey retail galleria with 24-hour grocery store. I assume the retail will be your usual retail, which would be good for Hamilton since most new retailers haven't located downtown yet.
He expects phase 1 - the hotel - to be done by the end of 2009.
Then, I guess depending on how successful phase 1 is, he plans to proceed with Sapphire.
He wants 80 stories and so far seems to have received a good reception from the mayor and downtown councillor etc.....
but this is Hamilton and lets be honest, this is a mega-tall tower. There WILL be some debate/discussion on the height if he actually gets to the point of proceeding with it.

It seems out of place for now, but obviously could be the seed needed to bring other major condo/office projects here and turn downtown Hamilton into the 2nd major downtown in the GTA after Toronto.
The only variance he'll need on the site is to go higher than the 80 meter height limit. The mixed use is fine for downtown obviously.
I'd be shocked if council tries to shrink this thing. It's our chance to be put back on the map. I'm sure they'll go for it.

That's all one big IF - let's worry about Phase 1 first.

And to answer your other question...yes, that is what Sappire looks like. His architect presented that rendering to the Spec, National Post etc....

[fastcarsfreedom]

Quit slagging on 100 King West--there's nothing wrong with Stelco Tower--it's a typical Internationalist office tower--and it's not like there are dozens of buildings around which have Stelcalloy as cladding. I mean, if you want to start being picky, Stelco Tower is a heck of a lot more unique than Commerce Place.

[SteelTown]

Seriously if people want to hear details of Stinson's plan listen to this interview, he lays pretty much everything out during the interview. Lots of information.

Originally Posted by SteelTown

If you wish to hear Stinson himself explain his plans for the Royal Connaught Hotel click on the link....

http://www.900chml.com/station/featu...053&StartRow=1

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by Cambridgite

Holy crap! This is for real! I seriously thought this was a joke at first. This will be a sweet project if it goes through.



I know this isn't the first condo project in Hamilton. But 250m is MASSIVE and out of place. I like that he's taking a bold risk, but it seems weird for Hamilton to go from buildings like Stelco Tower and regular apartment slabs to a massive, well-designed, world-class project you'd expect to see in Toronto/Chicago/New York, etc.



So will it be 250m or not? Is it just what the building could theoretically look like?

I actually don't know how much meters the condo tower will be as Stinson says it'll be 70 or 80 storey high so that's why I have a greater than sign in front of 250 meters because it'll be higher than 250 meters.

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by flar

I don't really get the humour. It's not like this is the first condo in Hamilton. And it's not like Stinson has never built a condo project before. Actually the vitriol directed at Stinson is a bit disturbing. I like people who take risks. The world would be pretty boring without people who dream big. They shouldn't be ridiculed.

Anyway, I see no reason why this project shouldn't happen. The Connaught Hotel is a great building and was a functioning hotel just a few years ago. Seems like the perfect building for a condo conversion. A 24hr grocery store is in demand for downtown's growing population. An upscale 5 level restaurant with rooftop patio is nearing completion on the same block, the Lincoln Alexander Conference Centre and Plaza Hotel are under renovations across the street. A condo tower has always been phase II of the plan. Obviously "the Sapphire" won't be plunked down in this spot unmodified but it's a great location for a nice building.

He's made a lot of enemies, no doubt.

Harry's an odd guy. Atypical from the 'real estate/developer' mold, and I think his no bullshit demeaner puts people off.

His biggest fault may be his obsessive compulsiveness. He's too hands-on, and needs to let the qualified people he employs carry more responsibility.

My concern is the pricetag. For $9.5 million, he's going to require a decent sized tower to have a decent ROI. Is there going to be a market for million dollar condo's in downtown Hamilton?

Yes, the restoration of the Connaught will be great, but will it be enough to satisfy the investors?

[matt602]

According to the way he speaks of the project, the investors are already satisfied.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by oldcoote

My concern is the pricetag. For $9.5 million, he's going to require a decent sized tower to have a decent ROI. Is there going to be a market for million dollar condo's in downtown Hamilton?

With the Madison at the Mountain Brow the top 2 floors, the most expensive units ($1 million a unit) sold instantly.

[DC83]

Originally Posted by oldcoote

Is there going to be a market for million dollar condo's in downtown Hamilton?

Someone also spent $1.5mil on two of the penthouse units at Chateau Royal which they combined to make one, big penthouse.

[highwater]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

Quit slagging on 100 King West--there's nothing wrong with Stelco Tower--it's a typical Internationalist office tower--and it's not like there are dozens of buildings around which have Stelcalloy as cladding. I mean, if you want to start being picky, Stelco Tower is a heck of a lot more unique than Commerce Place.

Amen! I knew we'd agree on something eventually.

[Goldfinger]

Originally Posted by DC83

Someone also spent $1.5mil on two of the penthouse units at Chateau Royal which they combined to make one, big penthouse.

Ah...no. Those penthouses were indeed combined, but they never sold one penthouse unit.

I have seen all of them, and I can say that although they are spacious, I would never plunk down anywhere near $1M for that. I could go to another development in the city, but 2 units and combine them for less than $400K.

You need the WOW factor in a Penthouse, those units did not have it at all.

[Goldfinger]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

Quit slagging on 100 King West--there's nothing wrong with Stelco Tower--it's a typical Internationalist office tower--and it's not like there are dozens of buildings around which have Stelcalloy as cladding. I mean, if you want to start being picky, Stelco Tower is a heck of a lot more unique than Commerce Place.

I have always liked the Stelco tower because it always reminds me of Miles Van der Rohes' TD Centre in Toronto. Out of all the downtown towers, I still like TD the best even more than Brookfield Place. The place is always spotless and the finishes are great.

All Stelco tower needs are new windows, the seals are starting to go on many of them and others are different shades due to replacement. The lobby could stand to be redone as well and you would have the most attractive Office tower in Hamilton.

[RePinion]

Oi vay! Don't even get me started on Chateau Royale. The developers managed to combine absolutely underwhelming units with piss poor interior detailing and shoddy finishing with a haute haute fromage pseudo-luxe marketing image ...

In a bigger city, which has countless other developments to drown out the noise of a project like CR, such a place could have been tolerated ... but not in Hamilton, where it was the only major condo project in the downtown for quite some time. What an embarrassment to the city. What I cannot believe is that the developers actually believed they would succeed with this olympic hunk of crap.

Apologies to anyone who might live there, but your taste is damaging to the city's image.

[WhipperSnapper]

Actually the vitriol directed at Stinson is a bit disturbing.

You obviously don't have a clue regarding his past history

[RePinion]

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

I have always liked the Stelco tower because it always reminds me of Miles Van der Rohes' TD Centre in Toronto. Out of all the downtown towers, I still like TD the best even more than Brookfield Place. The place is always spotless and the finishes are great.

Mies van der Rohe's TD Centre is one of the finest buildings in Canada and one of that architect's finest project's anywhere. It was extremely costly to build and has been maintained admirably. It has always been one of the most prestigious addresses on Bay Street (if not the most prestigious). It is a classic building by any definition.

The Stelco Tower, built a few years after the TD Centre (in 1973 I believe, the TD having been finished in 69), is competent internationalist office architecture. Totally unremarkable for the era in terms of its architectural design but by no means offensive. I think it is certainly in much better taste than CIBC's Commerce Place, with its gaudy reflective glass, and can fairly be considered a Hamilton classic.

[flar]

Originally Posted by goodlookin'

You obviously don't have a clue regarding his past history

So did he harm you personally or something?