Pan Am precinct

[Dr Awesomesauce]

No real opinion yet, but yeah, they need to be more creative with the parking.

[Katrillion]

The photos of the interior are clearly not renderings. They're real photos. I think those are just for inspiration and the goal of what they would like the space to look like.

[fuller]

Originally Posted by Katrillion

A parking lot right on King Street...? Come on... lol

Here we go again.

Does Hamilton have some sort of kryptonite shield just below grade that prevents excavation for underground parking structures?

Jackson Square, the AGH, and many residential buildings have parking structures below them. So it is *proven to be feasible.

Obviously underground parking is costly to build. But is there some other reason why it seems no building proposal here ever features what is absolutely standard throughout the rest of the world?

You hear it said "Oh, the water table is high because of the lake". Well, what about places like the World Trade Centre or Battery Park? The entire city of Manhattan is on an island whose highest point is about ten metres above sea level.

Is there some sort of ban on pumping ground water into the sewer system?

Another one is "Well, there's nowhere to put the excavated soil."

Really? What about building a pier into the lake? Not like Burlington's but more like Toronto's Leslie Spit, or our Bayfront Park. Why, we could build a park, or a wetland.

How about a city centre airport, not 100m off the waterfront, like Toronto's, but several miles out in the lake? Create the transit tunnel as it is built and no vehicles need even be visible on the surface parkland.

Oh, almost forgot, add an outer harbour marina, on the lake side, for more adventurous or destination sailors. And a real pier, with buildings on it. Like a dance hall or other entertainment facility. You could even put a casino there, without taking away from the downtown core.

Really, you could have all of these things on the same peninsula.

[NortheastWind]

Originally Posted by fuller

Here we go again.

Does Hamilton have some sort of kryptonite shield just below grade that prevents excavation for underground parking structures?

Jackson Square, the AGH, and many residential buildings have parking structures below them. So it is *proven to be feasible.

Obviously underground parking is costly to build. But is there some other reason why it seems no building proposal here ever features what is absolutely standard throughout the rest of the world?

You hear it said "Oh, the water table is high because of the lake". Well, what about places like the World Trade Centre or Battery Park? The entire city of Manhattan is on an island whose highest point is about ten metres above sea level.

Is there some sort of ban on pumping ground water into the sewer system?

Another one is "Well, there's nowhere to put the excavated soil."

Really? What about building a pier into the lake? Not like Burlington's but more like Toronto's Leslie Spit, or our Bayfront Park. Why, we could build a park, or a wetland.

How about a city centre airport, not 100m off the waterfront, like Toronto's, but several miles out in the lake? Create the transit tunnel as it is built and no vehicles need even be visible on the surface parkland.

Oh, almost forgot, add an outer harbour marina, on the lake side, for more adventurous or destination sailors. And a real pier, with buildings on it. Like a dance hall or other entertainment facility. You could even put a casino there, without taking away from the downtown core.

Really, you could have all of these things on the same peninsula.

I'm not sure if there is an issue at this location but their use to be 19 creeks that flowed through Hamilton. All but Red Hill Creek was forced underground. If you go into the basement at 8 Main St E., there's a spot where you can hear one of those creeks flowing below the building.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by NortheastWind

I'm not sure if there is an issue at this location but their use to be 19 creeks that flowed through Hamilton. All but Red Hill Creek was forced underground. If you go into the basement at 8 Main St E., there's a spot where you can hear one of those creeks flowing below the building.

Is that ever neat! That would really be something- I'm assuming the basement's not accessible to the public, though.

Buried rivers are an interesting thing. In a lot of cities, they're reversing course on this and unearthing them. This fellow is a proponent of that: the last creek on the list is Chedoke running under the earth near Longwood to Cootes Paradise. Very interesting history of it there.

Sorry for getting off-topic. Fuller is dead right that the arguments against underground parking are overdone to say the least.

[thomax]

One of those underground creeks goes right under the middle of my house. We cut a hole in the basement floor a while back and we could see it. It's flooded our house four times, so I can see how they'd be a problem for underground parking. The whole creek would have to be rerouted.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by NortheastWind

I'm not sure if there is an issue at this location but their use to be 19 creeks that flowed through Hamilton. All but Red Hill Creek was forced underground. If you go into the basement at 8 Main St E., there's a spot where you can hear one of those creeks flowing below the building.

That's really neat.

However, it also goes to show that buildings can be engineered to account for these issues. That particular one is 4 storeys tall and has stood since 1913 (it's on the Downtown Built Heritage Inventory Project list)

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yeah, look, lots and lots of cities have to deal with these sorts of issues. I can't imagine this is a real 'thing' that prevents underground parking or a subway or whatever the case may be.

[mattgrande]

Is there a map that shows where these creeks are?

[ScreamingViking]

Here are a few. Unclear how big some of these creeks were, but they were important enough to be mapped.

I imagine a number of them were redirected into the sewer system, where they were close to the north-south concessions that became arterial streets.


Looks like there was a creek just west of Gage flowing into Harveys Inlet:

Source


This one's a bit of a closeup of the above map, shows more of the blocks south of Barton:
(note the scribbled over edit for "Jones Inlet"... which was fixed on the above version of the map)

Source


An older one (1836) that has the escarpment north and south of the bay:

Source

[davidcappi]

Now that Pan Am has wrapped, work has continued on the old Scott Park grounds.

[thomax]

mjmarchitects.com


mjmarchitects.com


mjmarchitects.com


mjmarchitects.com


mjmarchitects.com


mjmarchitects.com



thepublicrecord.ca - First Look at Renderings and Plans for New HWDSB Lower City High School and Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre

[SteelTown]

City set to approve stadium precinct construction

Hamilton Spectator
By Carmela Fragomeni
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/67...-construction/

The stadium precinct — featuring a new recreation centre, new high school and courtyard between them with a skating rink/splash pad and reflecting pool — is set to become a reality.

City councillors are poised to approve the city's $25.1-million portion of the project. And the Hamilton public school board plans to start construction on its portion — a $32-million high school — in the late fall.

The project envelops a city block, across from Tim Hortons Field, that will see the new Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre built beside Balsam Avenue North; a green space courtyard with an ice rink/splash pad and reflecting pool and all their related water pipes and refrigeration equipment. The courtyard will blend in with the football stadium plaza and field across the road from it.

The city had originally budgeted $19.5 million for the seniors/rec centre and $1 million for the ice/splash pad, but the total cost has been revised to $25.6 million.

The Morelli Centre will be a seniors/general community rec centre that includes a gymnasium and leisure pool with an accessibility ramp and hydrotherapy jets. The centre will be connected to the old but revamped larger Jimmy Thompson Memorial Pool already on the parcel, which once also contained the now demolished Scott Park high school.

The precinct's yet unnamed new high school will be built in a bit of an L-shape and will front onto King Street East and Melrose Avenue North.

City council's general issues committee is expected to approve the construction contract for the recreation centre and ice/splash pad on Monday.

Construction is expected to start in late September, with a completion target date of September 2018, according to Robyn Ellis, city manager of facilities strategic planning.

Ward Coun. Matthew Green said if the new stadium is included in the area's improvements, there will be about a $200-million stake in that part of the city.

"For Ward 3, what that precinct represents is a significant investment," he said. "It is a catalyst for what's already a kind of renewal in the neighbourhood. It's one of the hottest real estate markets in Ontario — close to Gage Park, the new stadium and now the new recreation centre and school. They all complement each other very well."

Green commends residents in the direct vicinity of the precinct block for having been "extremely patient" while putting up with close to five years of construction so far, mostly for the new stadium.

Patti Encinas, co-chair of the Sherman Hub community group representing 10,000 residents, said there are mixed feelings about the precinct project. Many residents, having already undergone great stress during the stadium construction, are frustrated with the length of time it is taking to get it off the ground, she added.

"There's a lot of concern it doesn't appear things are moving very quickly. I think residents will be happy to hear that there is some sort of movement because a lot of families feel they've had all their recreation and green space taken away in that section of the neighbourhood."

Encinas was referring to the loss of green space around Jimmy Thompson pool and the torn down Scott Park school.

"It's just a big brown field and it's been that way since Pan Am (Games in 2015). They (residents) are frustrated. They've been waiting and waiting … (and are) hesitant to believe it will happen and to get really excited."

[davidcappi]

I'm just really excited that we're getting an MJMA designed community centre/building. This is huge news. No doubt it'll be gorgeous.