There is some boarding around the bottom, and it looks like the brick on the first floor has been ripped off. Anyone have an idea about what it going on?
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Homegrown Hamilton was supposed to move to the ground floor and they were going to renovate the upper floors into residential, I think, but that fell through back in late 2016 I believe. Don't think theres been any movement on it since but I'd be surprised if its still empty by 2020. Way too many things going on around it.
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This is what is currently looks like, the lower portion brick was definitely removed. Looks like they're doing a real renovation.
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Thank god that brick portion was terrible.. so not part of the original design.
I really am not sold on the window treatments on the second and third floors either.. it just looks so.. off.. shoulda gone either all black or all white.. and restored the colour banding of sand coloured to brick coloured around all the windows.
Thank god that brick portion was terrible.. so not part of the original design.
I really am not sold on the window treatments on the second and third floors either.. it just looks so.. off.. shoulda gone either all black or all white.. and restored the colour banding of sand coloured to brick coloured around all the windows.
It doesn't look like they're done with the brick yet, so it may be all one colour once completed.
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There's also some renos going on across from Treble Hall on John in the building where the old McDonald's was on the corner. Looks like the upper two floors are getting renovated into apartments.
There's also some renos going on across from Treble Hall on John in the building where the old McDonald's was on the corner. Looks like the upper two floors are getting renovated into apartments.
They should re-reno the treble hall - the pillars on the main floor of the facade were crumbling again not too long after it was restored.
That brick/arch/pillars/concrete combo looks like a hot mess - I am not sure how they are going to even that out..
Brick wise this place is a mess - they weren't even consistent with the yellow brick columning going up the building - it's really bizarre.. from what I can glean the yellow is actually a finish on the brick that has faded over time.. and some places have like 3 or 4 different materials added for this weird hackneyed look..
correct me if I am wrong but is this not where homegrown was moving to? Also it's nice to see the covering ripped off the building to the left of it..
They've actually done a beautiful job of repairing the columns - they were all oxidized and green and the tops were all rusted before..
I wonder if they will restore the original cornice that separated the first level from the second and third level. The columns would have looked like the ones on the treble hall originally - sadly almost nothing remains of the corinthian elements on top of them but some small fragments left over... the columns are hollow and only are decorative. The cornice would have most likely been similar to the treble hall as well.
I hope they restore the yellow stain on the building elements on the front too - it has faded with time.. and maybe one day the original ornate pediments will be replaced again where they put placeholder coverings above the windows..
Forgot to share this, but they are building a cornice out of wood and styrofoam, to add stucco. I don't know what it will look like, but I do wish it was just wood. However I find stucco doesn't look too bad in small increments like this, and must be much cheaper to repair later on when someone who cares comes and grabs this later on.
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So excited for McCafe to open (if true)! I can finally dump Tim Hortons. McCafe is superior to Tims in everyway and we been without any McDonalds presence downtown for too long.
As for the building I was worried about how it was all going to come together because like Chronomut said this building had a "weird hackneyed look" but it's all starting to make sense now.
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The new cornice and window ledge work on the John St facing sprung up quite recently & hopefully with some finishing will blend in/compliment a bit more.
While I can appreciate the presence of McDonalds for people who like that (and in this case McCafe), I really hope it's not. There's so many good local coffee shops to support.
I'm glad there's only two Starbucks (three if you count the small one in the Sheraton at JS) in the central lower city. However I will say, smart on McD's part if it is, since that's a nice location with good foot traffic and even more coming in the next few years because of parking lot abyss conversion.
Remember the McDonald's at the corner of John and King? (Paul Wilson talks about it in this 2016 piece he did for the Spec). Closed when they opened the one that was in Jackson Square.
If they're opening a McCafe it's definitely smart placement, with Cobalt, the other new stuff and RC3 proposed nearby, Kiwi and 1 Jarvis not too far away, plus there is employment in the area (HPS, Alectra, the courts, etc) and more coming once the Lister addition is done.
Last edited by ScreamingViking; Jan 18, 2021 at 8:28 PM.
There used to be a Wendy's near there too, actually. It opened... after 1976, I know that much.
It's very hard to tell but I think it was either in or next to the Capitol theatre