7 Queen St N + 354 King St W | 77.2 & 41.7 m | 12 & 25 fl | Under Construction

[king10]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Darko Vranich has no criminal conviction. You are thinking of the wrong Vranich.

To address the question as to why he had held on to his property so long before developing, if I may add perspective without making someone's personal life more public that it needs to be, from I understand Vranich was (until relatively recently) embroiled in a lengthy divorce proceeding, which I suspect influenced how and when he could develop properties that he held.

Correct.

[flar]

Re: the old orphanage

It's important to pick your battles, that building isn't that great, and the lot could be used a lot better. That said, if they could incorporate the existing building into a new design, it could be the best possible outcome.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I've been quite vocal about my abhorrence of this man over the years. But, hey, he's decided to go 'straight', so fair enough.

[palace1]

Originally Posted by flar

Re: the old orphanage
It's important to pick your battles, that building isn't that great, and the lot could be used a lot better. That said, if they could incorporate the existing building into a new design, it could be the best possible outcome.

I agree with your points but until a site plan is submitted or a building permit is applied for I don't think demolition should be allowed.

Demolishing the building and receiving a tax credit and then leaving the site empty for years or creating a parking lot is not acceptable.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by palace1

I agree with your points but until a site plan is submitted or a building permit is applied for I don't think demolition should be allowed.

Demolishing the building and receiving a tax credit and then leaving the site empty for years or creating a parking lot is not acceptable.

Do we know that nothing has been submitted? If we didn't know about an approved demolition until after it happened what are the odds we don't know about planning negotiations that have been ongoing?

Of course he could build something new on the lot without tearing anything down because the lot is like 2/3rd or 3/4ths parking lot already.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by king10

Correct.

Whoops- sorry!

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by Beedok

For a long while it simply wasn't economical to build much in downtown Hamilton. It reminds me of those people saying that Hamilton should have been doing modern new urbanism in the 70s. If they'd done that they would have failed. Almost no one wanted to set up shop in brownfields or whatnot. If Vranich had tried to build all these hotels and condos in Hamilton 10 years ago they'd have probably failed and put the city of the whole concept for years. By waiting until the market was showing signs of existing he's instead helped to spearhead confidence and development. I'm not saying he's perfect, but in reality "build it and they will come" only works for a few specific things (otherwise White Elephants wouldn't exist). So he isn't really evil for waiting until there was a market for downtown hotels and condos. Well no more evil than any other developper.

What exactly has changed in the past 10 years that increased the demand for more hotels? That need has always been there. Hamilton was and still is in need of hotel rooms downtown.
The recent builds are a nice start, but still under-service a market of this size.

[king10]

Originally Posted by oldcoote

What exactly has changed in the past 10 years that increased the demand for more hotels? That need has always been there. Hamilton was and still is in need of hotel rooms downtown.
The recent builds are a nice start, but still under-service a market of this size.

Whats changed is ppls perception of the downtown.

Believe it or not some ppl aren't afraid of going downtown and getting mugged. Where as a decade ago a lot more were.

[thistleclub]

The new Vrancor proposal, sited directly east of Mt. St. Joseph atop the site’s existing parking lot, appears to abut the street, with a five-storey glass streetwall running along Queen North opposite the Casbah.

[SteelTown]

Joey Coleman
https://twitter.com/JoeyColeman/stat...598272/photo/1

[SteelTown]

They both look to be 20 storey building.

Nice to see they'll save the Mount Saint Joseph building.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^This is looking from Queen? Looks weird.

[SteelTown]

Yes

If you look at this map, the rendering starts to make sense.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.25992.../data=!3m1!1e3

The new building is where the parking lot is.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Thanks. Never noticed how big that property is.

If this new building is located on the parking lot, then it should, as thistleclub stated, abut Queen but it looks to be well off the street. Anyway, it's just a drawing - hard to tell...

[ScreamingViking]

That view is from the King Street side, not Queen (note the columned entry of Mt. St. Joseph)

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Now I see it. Yeah, so that new building will, in fact, face right onto Queen. Cheers.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Yes

If you look at this map, the rendering starts to make sense.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.25992.../data=!3m1!1e3

The new building is where the parking lot is.

That empty lot just north of this block on Queen between Market and Napier is also a Vranich property, isn't it? There was some issue with fill being dumped there without a permit a few years back, but I don't recall what happened with that.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Didn't he want to resurface it and use it as a parking lot and the City stepped in? Something like that, as I recall...

[SteelTown]

366-368 King Street West | ? | 2 fl | Proposal -> 366-368 King Street West | ? | 22 fl | Proposal

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

^Didn't he want to resurface it and use it as a parking lot and the City stepped in? Something like that, as I recall...

I just looked at the street view - the satellite view is out of date: the lot did get paved ($4/day to park)
http://goo.gl/maps/S2aNj
http://goo.gl/maps/KBlzb