Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammer Native
There is an old historical building, probably former industrial, on Alanson Street which was turned into lofts years ago. Not a big building but I think the project went off successfully. I think they were built in the late 80's to mid 90's I can't quite remember. Anyway it likely shows there is a market for lofts in that area, and those are backing on to the tracks.
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I kept an eye out for this today - never even really noticed it before. It seems like a nice building though. You kind of have to look for it, it blends in very well.
I don't believe anyone's posted this article re: the Stinson lofts yet.
From classes to condos for Stinson
PAUL WILSON
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 20, 2009)
Harry's done it again, got himself another big project. He just couldn't say no.
This time it's the enormous 1890s Stinson School. He says he's going to turn it into condos and he sure won't be changing the name.
Harry Stinson strode into this town from Toronto a couple of years ago and hasn't been out of the news since.
Jim Balsillie wants to give us a hockey team, and Stinson wants to give us condos.
First it was a massive redo of the Royal Connaught, with a thousand-foot needle-shaped condo tower.
He just couldn't pull the money together for that one, but soon announced The Hamilton Grand, a condo-hotel project to be carved out of an old building on John, just south of King.
Then, last month, another press conference. Forget the old Grand, Stinson said, and here's the new one. He says a 13-storey structure will soon start to rise on the site of a former Shell station at Main and John.
And now, after giving the school board a six-figure deposit, he's weeks away from closing on the purchase of the Stinson School.
Is he taking on too much? "I did wrestle with that before putting in the bid," he says. "But not a lot of 120-year-old schools called Stinson will be coming up for sale. I couldn't not take a shot at it.
"And I'm actually qualified to do this. I've done it before."
He's talking about a 1993 project called the Candy Factory. A few years ago, Toronto Life magazine declared Stinson's launch of the loft revolution one of "10 moments that profoundly changed life in Toronto."
He went into Queen West, a marginal neighbourhood then. To the amazement of many, he turned the old five-storey, block-long Ce De Candy Company into 121 lofts that sold in a flash.
Stinson School is a cut above any old candy company building. Architect Alfred Peene, also responsible for Hamilton's Carnegie Library, designed an impressive structure. He used brick and brown Credit Valley stone. He put slate on the roof, of course, and it's still in place.
Inside, the gleaming wood floors, soaring ceilings, generous windows, handsome wainscotting are all still there.
But the kids aren't. At the peak, about 700 students attended Stinson. That had fallen to 265.
The end came at March break, when those kids hiked off to the new Queen Victoria school.
Plywood went up on the windows and the board took offers. Stinson won't say what his winning bid is until the deal closes. Neither will the school board. But $750,000 is probably not far off.
Some wonder if the location is right. It's not the west end, where a developer could charge top dollar for the condos.
But Stinson likes it fine here, just west of Wentworth. "We're standing at the foot of the escarpment. The stairs are right there. The Bruce Trail, too. You can walk to the GO train in 15 or 20 minutes."
Stinson School is surrounded by old homes, some grand, many well cared for.
Stinson thinks this project is big enough to kick-start improvements to the whole neighbourhood, just as the Candy Factory did.
On this day, he's brought two architects from a Toronto firm called Icon to the site. He's worked with them before. They shoot hundreds of photos of the school, inside and out.
"I'm not worried about sales at this project," Stinson says. "The challenge is the design and construction.
"This will be a Rubik's cube. Every unit will have to be planned one by one. That's why we're taking all these pictures, measuring again and again."
Stinson has a meeting at City Hall today to discuss the approvals process.
He thinks there's the potential for 100 units, selling for an average of $250,000. There would be 30 in a stacked townhouse at the south end of the property, plus 35 units in each of the two buildings that make up Stinson School.
He talks of balconies cut into the roof, a Victorian greenhouse for the premier suite, exposed brick, a glass galleria, cobblestone and globe lights around the entire block.
He estimates construction costs at $10 million and says the money to get started is in place.
"I've been out here measuring and neighbours keep coming by," Stinson says.
"Time and time again they say, 'We hope you get started right away. We don't want another Lister Block.'"
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com
905-526-3391
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