McMaster Graduate Student Residence | ? | 31 & 10 fl | Complete

[Wigs]

seeing this photo just makes me think, damn, City Hall parking seems to take up too much space. I think they should build a parking garage with a mixed-use tower above. low-income or workforce housing.

one can dream, right? hah

Glad to see the progress! It will be great for the core to have many more students downtown.

[ShavedParmesanCheese]

Originally Posted by Wigs

seeing this photo just makes me think, damn, City Hall parking seems to take up too much space. I think they should build a parking garage with a mixed-use tower above. low-income or workforce housing.

one can dream, right? hah

Glad to see the progress! It will be great for the core to have many more students downtown.

I've heard that elevated section of the parking lot was built to accommodate office towers if/when the city needed it, so you're not far off the mark. I know which I'd prefer.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by ShavedParmesanCheese

I've heard that elevated section of the parking lot was built to accommodate office towers if/when the city needed it, so you're not far off the mark. I know which I'd prefer.

City Hall was designed to have a third office wing constructed off of the north end which was never built, but it would have gone where the elevated walkway from City Hall to the parking garage is, not on top of the parking garage itself.

[King&James]

Link to a Globe story on the development and the undergrad one on Main W

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...udent-housing/

[Innsertnamehere]

cladding looks good - this has also topped off with the mechanical penthouse poured.

[urban_planner]

Their is some black cladding on the parking Garage portion.

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Originally Posted by King&James

Link to a Globe story on the development and the undergrad one on Main W

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...udent-housing/

this article is nice, however, they need to fact check
31 storeys not 30

and "in a town that hasn't seen much development" I mean that may have been true a few years ago but they need to actually visit Hamilton to see whats happening here - annoying

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Wigs

I just meant currently. Office space demands could easily change. Would be great to see a new office tower in Hamilton within this decade.

And Hi Shawn! Niagara is already becoming just that.

More like GTA retirement community than bedroom as that implies they still work in Toronto
Former boss "everyone in my new subdivision is from the GTA. Mississauga, Brampton, Oshawa, etc"

Yeah it would be.. and haha I was like 'how does he know my name" then I remembered it's in my sig lol..

I seriously hope the amt of people that move here means actual JOBS for people downtown otherwise it'll just be people hopping onto the go to work in burlington and toronto.. we need some big name people downtown - and not just tuck everything away in places like mcmaster business park.. can't have everyone working in restaurants downtown - pretty sure that doesn't pay the expensive rent of the condos immediately beside or above them.. esp since you're not required to pay them even minimum wage, that comes from tips..

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Wigs

seeing this photo just makes me think, damn, City Hall parking seems to take up too much space. I think they should build a parking garage with a mixed-use tower above. low-income or workforce housing.

one can dream, right? hah

Glad to see the progress! It will be great for the core to have many more students downtown.

They already have a design for it - saw it proposed a while back - so only a matter of time. As was said they designed it with expansion in mind.

Cladding is looking great on the building btw - to bring this back on topic.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

They already have a design for it - saw it proposed a while back - so only a matter of time. As was said they designed it with expansion in mind.

Cladding is looking great on the building btw - to bring this back on topic.

glad to hear!

(yeah, your name has been in your sig for years. Also, same first name as another Hamilton forumer so easy to remember)

I agree, this cladding is pretty pretty neat

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Wigs

glad to hear!

(yeah, your name has been in your sig for years. Also, same first name as another Hamilton forumer so easy to remember)

I agree, this cladding is pretty pretty neat

Lol yeah I don't think most people pay much attention to my sig hahaha..

I do wonder why the parking garage area cladding is perforated/corrugated (whatever the right word is lol) though - esp. when it's just going over cinderblock - does that area need to breathe more..?

I also just noticed the cladding above is it actually black - interesting - I thought it was all gonna be that bronze colour..

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by King&James

from Knightstone Capital,

https://www.k-cap.com/project/mcmast...ent-residence/

mm yeah definitely changed the colours a bit

[ScreamingViking]

I walked by this early this morning. I like the black on the garage paneling.

This building will definitely have one of our city's most unique facades. In certain light it will look dull, but in bright sun should be more golden.

Hard to believe how different that entire block was not very long ago, and it's not done changing yet. Here are street views from June 2009:
https://goo.gl/maps/fnuvj7gvfDWsJz6d6
https://goo.gl/maps/Sio5MZ3DwEy1qtCh8
https://goo.gl/maps/uCq5Wib65H4do9LX7

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Lol yeah I don't think most people pay much attention to my sig hahaha..

I do wonder why the parking garage area cladding is perforated/corrugated (whatever the right word is lol) though - esp. when it's just going over cinderblock - does that area need to breathe more..?

I also just noticed the cladding above is it actually black - interesting - I thought it was all gonna be that bronze colour..

on my 27 inch monitor with 150% zoom enabled in my browser the font is pretty big

can't wait to see how this cladding pans out. definitely different than the boring status quo for Hamilton!
I kinda wish it was closer to 40 storeys. Having the gold panels shine in the sun over Hamilton might be neat.

[StEC]

Originally Posted by wigs

(yeah, your name has been in your sig for years. Also, same first name as another hamilton forumer so easy to remember)

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Yes this project definitely should've been our new tallest - perfect location and interesting cladding - would have been seen like a beacon from the skyway !

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by HamiltonBoyInToronto

Yes this project definitely should've been our new tallest - perfect location and interesting cladding - would have been seen like a beacon from the skyway !

Honestly I feel like the area where the city center is being demolished should have been our new tallest - should always peak in the center and peter out from there.. this building is just sorta.. over there.. *waves over there*

I kinda feel bad for the old recently renovated building on the other side that will be completely closed in and now surrounded by skyscrapers.. I still have the feeling they have future planned for it to be demolished so they can close this little block up..

[TheRitsman]

[urban_planner]

Some additional photos from today.

[davidcapizzano]

Hamilton as an institution has been obsessed with the idea of luring big companies from the greater GTHA and having them set up shop in Hamilton, but it's never worked out. There just isn't enough happening downtown to justify it, and the transit connectivity right now is severely lacking. Q4 is one example, but during the pandemic they shifted to a totally remote model of working, so they're likely just riding out their Hamilton lease.

All of the Jackson Square office towers have had huge swaths of vacancies for years now - some floors of Stelco tower have been empty and are used for events since they're basically raw spaces with no fixtures. New office construction in central Hamilton is highly unlikely at this time. The focus should be on getting businesses already located in Hamilton to centralize their offices, however this might be unpopular with suburban councillors who won't want employers to leave their wards.

There are a lot of hypothetical situations like satellite offices, but given the state of the office market at this time, I'm highly doubtful any business would want to sign on to a new commercial lease given that they're usually like 10 years long and workers are extremely apprehensive about returning to offices full time.

Having an influx of students in the core should be great for retail offerings though, which I think will be a fantastic benefit for downtown residents as a whole.