Stinson School Lofts | ? | 4 fl | Complete

[BCTed]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Please expand. When and where was your visit to our neighbourhood and what was the nature of your visit? Were you just driving through, visiting someone else, or did your live there? How recent was your visit? What experiences did you have that makes you say "putting it mildly, the neighbourhood is not all that great a place".

Frankly, since purchasing my home here I have watched the neighbourhood improve significantly and it is much greater a place than one could notice by 'just passing through'. My home's property value in the six years that have passed has increased by over 50%. Not very many neighbourhoods can boast such an increase in that short a period of time. And, despite your obvious negative bias towards Harry Stinson, he has always been bang on in identifying the up and coming neighbourhoods in a city.

I would much rather not discuss personal experiences on here other than to say that I have neither had a great nor a terrible experience there, but have never gotten anything near a positive vibe. Your quote of my message has conveniently left out the "in my opinion" suffix, which completely changes the tone of what I stated.

However much the neighbourhood may have improved, you have admitted to pockets of sketchiness and even without those, I simply cannot picture many $400K condo sales in that area and you seem to at least partially agree that such pricing is too high.

Once again, I see Stinson having trouble succeeding, although this idea is obviously somewhat more grounded than that 100 story pie-in-the-sky nonsense that a number of people here cheered on.

What are we arguing about?

[Jon Dalton]

$400,000 is the upper end. I think $200,000 could fly and there's going to be more wiggle room here if sales are weak. I don't have 'faith' in this guy by any means but I like his ideas and sincerely hope he gets a win this time.

[Duckyboy]

They're starting at $200K for the lower end, and up to $600K+ for the penthouses (3000sq.ft. and one has a 24 ft. ceiling). I was at the open house last night and it looked really cool. The neat thing is that every unit is totally unique and he is keeing many (or had mentioned, at least) of the original features; like the old chalkboards in the lofts and wainscotting.

I think some of the prices seem a little high for the area, but you never know. We'll see. He seemed REALLY dedicated to the area. This is the second meeting I've been to at the school and there was a decent amount of interest (some are looky-loos, of course).

He and his crew are there everyday; I drive/walk past them on a daily basis and it really seems like they're getting sh!t done there.

I think just about anything that will help raise the bar for the area is a good thing. Lots of people seem to be coming down hard on him for trying to invigorate (sp?) the area... at least he's trying. I don't see anyone else doing anything.

He was talking about possibly getting solar-powered shingles for the roof, which was kind of cool.

I dunno... I see no problem with it. The funny thing is he had mentioned many times how difficult it has been to moveahead with projects in this city (many roadblocks in place), and even at the meetings there were people making a fuss about this or that.

Should be neat to see what some of the finished units will look like upon completion.

-Ryan

[calvinkool]

Stinson is a loser, I wish he would take his lame ideas and legal scandals and go back to Toronto where the garbage he comes up with belongs.

[bornagainbiking]

This is Hamilton, try for some more realistic prices.
Look for starter condos at a fair price. if it goes then go slightly higher on your next venture. Too expensive and this too will fall flat.
This is a beer town not champagne. Working class.

[emge]

Nah, I don't buy the "working class" thing. we already have a few starter condo projects for young professionals not making too much, and a few more coming. those who are interested in something bigger from the "working class" (whatever the heck that means anymore) will buy a house.

these are a niche market - geared specifically to people who are making more money and want to live in a more historic neighbourhood in proximity to the downtown with the amenities found in a condo. we don't have much of that.

but the bottom line is that it's a higher-end niche market, not trying to move people who make a limited amount of money into condos.

[Jon Dalton]

Working class now means driving out of town to work a shitty job. It fails as an identity for Hamilton. It worked when there were plenty of factory jobs that paid a living wage, as far as the result of our former prosperity was mostly sprawl.

That said I do agree with lower prices. This is a city where you can buy a decent condo for $50k.

[FRM]

Originally Posted by calvinkool

Stinson is a loser, I wish he would take his lame ideas and legal scandals and go back to Toronto where the garbage he comes up with belongs.

yes! we need more developers who need to use taxpayer money to build/renovate buildings!

[SteelTown]

[SteelTown]

The model suite

[matt602]

Not bad.

[emge]

Could be better, but looks like higher-quality finishes and a very nice place to live.

It'll do its job though -- I think it'll attract the market it's designed to. Nice detail with the coloured accent wall too.

Though it's relatively minor, I wish they would have gone for some warmer and more detailed doors, or at least door trim. That would make it look much more classic than the builder's white six-panel.... and the kitchen cupboards are situated fairly low for the ceiling height, especially since one's set unevenly a bit higher, and the width of the island isn't very usable on the kitchen side.

Again, just minor details, but ones I'd look at if I was buying something in this price range.

[realcity]

very nice. I like the poster of One King.

[adam]

Big windows and high ceilings will be a huge selling point

[crhayes]

Originally Posted by emge

Could be better, but looks like higher-quality finishes and a very nice place to live.

It'll do its job though -- I think it'll attract the market it's designed to. Nice detail with the coloured accent wall too.

Though it's relatively minor, I wish they would have gone for some warmer and more detailed doors, or at least door trim. That would make it look much more classic than the builder's white six-panel.... and the kitchen cupboards are situated fairly low for the ceiling height, especially since one's set unevenly a bit higher, and the width of the island isn't very usable on the kitchen side.

Again, just minor details, but ones I'd look at if I was buying something in this price range.

The cupboards can't be too much higher or many people would need a step stool to use them

[emge]

Nah, I'm talking tiny details here, just a four-inch space or so.

It's the difference between the cabinet above the stove and the rest of the cabinets. They offset it probably for visual interest and to define parts of the kitchens,and so they could stick a wine rack in there and perhaps showcase that it could be "display space"

The problem is, you can see the cheap 'eh, we didn't bother to put the same veneer on this' panel of white laminated MDF on that four inches - something that higher-end homebuyers would notice.

Another thing that's often done these days is that a second set of upper cabinets, either regular-size or horizontal ones (which yes, one would need a stepstool to reach) are placed above the regular cabinets. This open-floor-plan one-side kitchen doesn't lend itself too well to that concept, but the ceiling height would certainly accomodate them.

Again, though, a minor detail, but in this price range it can be about minor details, and if I was buying a $350k place, I wouldn't want to see particleboard showcased in the kitchen.

[waterloowarrior]

There is an infomercial for this development on shoptv right now... Promotes Hamilton a lot

[BCTed]

I just had a quick look at the price list at the project Web site at http://stinsonschool.com/prices.html

Some details:

- 60 units for sale
- only one is priced below $250K and that is a studio at $159,900
- median price is $379,900. Mean price is $400,000
- Ten of the units are priced at $599,900 or higher. Six of those are priced at $699,900
- A note at the bottom reads: "Prices subject to change at the developers [sic] discretion.", so the prices are not fixed.

The units seem to be quite large, but I cannot picture many sales at these prices. Also, Harry really needs to get himself a proofreader.

[Blurr]

The site says that there is a heat pump that needs maintenance.

Does anyone know how the building will be heated?

[SteelTown]

http://www.dailywebtv.com/Hamilton/v...-School-Lofts-