Cobalt Luxury Residences On King | 97.5 & 97.5m | 2 x 30 fl | Under Construction

[kwoldtimer]

Is the concept for a new construction or is the two storey podium a recladding of the original store? If the latter, I would find it a shame to lose that Streamline storefront.

[thomax]

It would be a recladding. It is just conceptual though, the owner is using the rendering to show developers what could be done with the building.

[SteelTown]

If there's one building I'd love to see Core Urban take over is this one.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

If there's one building I'd love to see Core Urban take over is this one.

You never know. Seeing as the building goes right to the corner of Hughson and King William, that would give them 3 out of the 4 corners at the intersection.

[King&James]

Given the size of the floorplate and the general location, this would make an exceptional site for some mid rise development. Keep the skin, but really drive the volume. Mixed use, but favour residential.

[matt602]

I agree that a residential addition on top of the existing building would be amazing, but hopefully not anything that looks like that weird thing in the rendering recently posted. Looks like someone recreated the top part of Landmark place in minecraft and stuck it onto a yellow podium above the building. The Kresge building would make a good podium for a 40+ story condo one day.

[Beedok]

I hope something happens, but not that render.

[Pearlstreet]

I wish the awnings would come back. They lean over and embrace the sidewalk for pedestrians. It looks more welcoming and warmer.

[SteelTown]

$50 million future condo plan for downtown’s Old Kresge store

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/52...-kresge-store/

A Hamilton developer has big plans for downtown's landmark Kresge's store.

King and Hughston streets use to be the domain of S.S. Kresge, the royalty of the world of the five and dime. The chain arrived in Hamilton in 1930 with the largest single-floor variety store in Canada. And with an addition in 1948, the space stretched back to King William Street. For years, 75 per cent of the store's wares were made in Canada. It had a full-fledged restaurant and lunch counter. Up the marble stairs, a complete bakery operation.

Then the discounters muscled out the five and dimes. Kresge's became Kmart. When the Kresge's closed in downtown Hamilton in 1994, it was the country's last.

Delata Bingo took over the space in 1996. A year ago Sunday, they closed its doors for good.

Within 60 days, Ralph Frisina says, the Frisina Group will present a $50-million plan to the city for comments. It involves knocking down the Kresge store and building five storeys of condo lofts on its footprint. And on the parking lot at the back, off King William, a 20-storey condo tower. Between the two, about 150 units. A model suite would be installed in the old store.

Read the full story by Paul Wilson in The Spectator and on thespec.com Tuesday.

[SteelTown]

Delta Bingo (45 King St E) is closing -> 45 King St E | ? | 5 fl & 20 fl | Proposal

[king10]

5 stories at the old delta bingo and 20 stories behind it

[durandy]

not sure I'm happy about 20 stories on King William, but maybe with a podium it would be nice. It might make more sense to flip it and have 20 stories on King and 5 on KW...

[thistleclub]

Q: Is this the company's first high-rise since 100 Main East topped out 41 years ago?

Frisina's Clarenden (now Fontainebleau) predates 100 Main East.

Aside from that, I'm mostly finding conventional two-storey builds and disappearing buildings.

[matt602]

Kinda troubled by the part about knocking down the existing structure. This better not turn into a Blanchard fiasco.

[flar]

Two bad they couldn't just add three or four more floors to the existing structure, using the same look as the existing building.

[markbarbera]

The only way a "Blanchard" fiasco would be repeated is if Jason Farr decides to try to 'save' this building from demolition with another sudden heritage designation.

I agree, building upon the existing structure would be preferred, but let's not let opposition to its its demolition prevent the redevelopment of this site.

[The Gore]

Tearing down this building .... seriously!

Great looking building with good bones. Why can't developers in this city incorporate the old with the new?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by durandy

not sure I'm happy about 20 stories on King William, but maybe with a podium it would be nice. It might make more sense to flip it and have 20 stories on King and 5 on KW...

That was also my initial thought, but King's streetwall would fit 5 storeys well too (a 20 floor building would dwarf the Right House)

On King William there isn't much of a streetwall on the south side, but the height would still be out of scale compared to the buildings on the north. So I think the best outcome would be a setback over a podium of 3-5 storeys - the lot is long enough they could probably put the tower more toward the middle.

The DRP should weigh in on stuff like this.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^It's cheaper to demo than to incorporate an existing structure into a new design. Yeah, it's a shame. And given their recent history, as pointed out by thistleclub, I have little faith in this proposal.

[thomax]

I think they should demolish the rear 1-storey portion of the building, then they'd only have to restore the 2-storey portion and it could be incorporated into the new building nicely.

Something like this...