City Motor Hotel

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by fuller

Right, didn't the Rapid Ready LRT report specify the land for a transit hub/part of an LRT train storage yard? Yet there doesn't seem to be any transit shown here.

I wonder if the property may have changed hands in the regular way, in the end, with the looming prospect of expropriation just hastening the deal, like the houses in West Harbour that were situated around the Rheem plant.

I seem to recall the maintenance yard being proposed for Wentworth St. north of Barton.

A "transit hub" won't necessarily take up a lot of space - that location is between existing north-south bus routes anyway, so an LRT station there would likely just serve the neighbourhood and be a transfer point for local east-west bus service (if that gets maintained under the plan... not sure if it is, but I think it should be)

[mishap]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

A "transit hub" won't necessarily take up a lot of space - that location is between existing north-south bus routes anyway, so an LRT station there would likely just serve the neighbourhood and be a transfer point for local east-west bus service (if that gets maintained under the plan... not sure if it is, but I think it should be)

I've never understood the idea behind Merulla Station. What kind of "transit hub" is merely a transfer between express and local routes? And as for maintaining that east-west local route... tough to do when the street would only run westbound, with no corresponding eastbound street planned. And since it's not going to be very accessible by road under the LRT plan, intermodal connections will likely be done at Kenilworth or Parkdale. So this great transit hub would amount to one LRT stop.

By the way, someone should really tell Sam that the address there is not "Queenston Road East," as he says in his robocalls. You'd think he would know that considering his office is right there.

[matt602]

I've never really seen much reason for a transit hub there either, aside from an enhanced LRT stop. The only routes that go through it are the King and B-Line. The other routes in the area are too far away from it to be re-routed through it (Parkdale, Mohawk, Bayfront, etc).

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by mishap

And as for maintaining that east-west local route... tough to do when the street would only run westbound, with no corresponding eastbound street planned.

Not sure what you mean here. Main/Queenston will still be two-way traffic east of the Delta, but would lose a lane in each direction if rapid transit is implemented.

[palace1]

"Sam Merulla says the rezoning of the property also makes it more valuable. The city paid 1.9 million for it and he expects to turn a profit on that."

I didn't realize the plan was to sell the site to a developer. This sounds like a case of "eminent domain" where the city is expropriating from an owner who is unwilling to sell, and then rezoning the site in order for a private interest to obtain the property and generate more profit/tax revenue for the city.

Are the traffic circle changes and the studies/public meeting costs being deducted from the sale price?

How much trouble/costs would the previous owner have incurred if they had brought this proposal forward? (The Pearl Company estimated rezoning of their property to cost over $200,000.)

Hamilton Police should have been able to deal with any drug or crime problems. I think it's common sense that demolishing the property has just relocated this activity elsewhere.

[johnnyhamont]

Looks like the whole tower idea is being scrapped...

Hamilton, ON, Canada / AM900 CHML | Hamilton News
Posted: April 22, 2016 06:11 am
City Motor Hotel to become LRT hub

A new era is planned for the old site of the City Motor Hotel.

It’s to become an LRT transit hub, rather than a commercial and condo development.

The derelict building was expropriated by the city back in 2013 after a history of drugs and prostitution.

Ward councillor Sam Merulla says the idea for a condo-commercial development is “no longer practical” with the evolving plans for an east-west light rail transit line that will end at the Queenston traffic circle.

This is part of a larger proposal for LRT development in Hamilton that is slated to be unveiled on May 4.

(Hamilton Spectator)

[SteelTown]

Social housing eyed for former City Motor Hotel site

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7...or-hotel-site/

Hamilton's social housing agency is proposing to build close to 100 affordable apartments and townhouses atop the property that once hosted the infamous City Motor Hotel.

The hotel at 55 Queenston Rd. was expropriated and knocked down by the city in 2013 following growing complaints about crime and violence at the formerly iconic building.

Plans for a commercial and residential hub were initially derailed by Hamilton's $1-billion light rail transit plan, which called for a combined LRT terminal and bus hub at the Queenston traffic circle.

But council's recent decision to extend the LRT line all the way to Eastgate Square has resurrected the potential for a housing redevelopment that will "continue the ongoing revitalization" of the neighbourhood, said Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla.

A report going to the CityHousing Hamilton board next week recommends negotiating to buy the former hotel property, which it estimates is worth between $2.2 million and $2.4 million at fair market value. The city paid about $2 million to expropriate and demolish the hotel.

The report suggests a two-phase redevelopment of the site that would eventually include an eight-storey residential tower, a six-storey mixed use building and townhouses fronting on Main Street East.

The land was zoned for mixed-use residential shortly after the city committed to demolishing the old hotel, making it a "turnkey scenario" for CityHousing, said Merulla.

A regular LRT stop, rather than the earlier planned terminal, will still be located near the proposed development, making it an "ideal" location for seniors, he added.

"It's very exciting because we are taking what was a blight on the community and turning it into a multi-faceted community-building opportunity," he said.

The report recommends CityHousing proceed in stages, starting with 41 rent-geared-to-income units at an estimated development cost of around $9 million.

The project would also help the social housing agency meet its legal obligations to replace about 100 aging single-family and attached homes that are currently up for sale.

Those homes were deemed too expensive for the cash-strapped agency to fix and maintain. The housing provider plans to use the proceeds of the home sales in a hot housing market to build new – and more – affordable units in the city.

The Queenston circle site makes sense, Merulla argued, because many of the soon-to-be-sold single-family homes are in the east end. "This enables us to keep those affordable units in the community," he said.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Hmmmm...

[eatboots]

Everyone can stay nice and toasty with all the ambient energy coming off the powerlines

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by eatboots

Everyone can stay nice and toasty with all the ambient energy coming off the powerlines

Those lines are something to work around, but they bisect other towers along the hydro corridor not to mention bordering on numerous homes. It's not a new issue.