HarbourLife (468 James St N) | ? m | 7 fl | Under Construction

[davidcappi]

Docs and drawings available here: https://www.svnportal.com/468jamesnorth/

Developer is JvN/d and the architect of the building is OfficeArchitecture out of Toronto.

[lachlanholmes]

delete

[johnnyhamont]

Thinking back to how strongly NIMBY the neighbours were to the proposal for 5 stories at 500 James N, I'm looking forward to seeing their reactions to (gasp!) 8 stories here
^and between those two plus the 8 stories proposed for James at Burlington (not to mention much bigger longer-term work at the Jamesville and Pier 8 sites) this stretch of James is in for a very different feel!

[LRTfan]

I quite like it....8 stories is perfect for James N IMO. 6-8 stories all the way to Pier 8 would be ideal.
Other than the Jamesville housing site...it has space for some taller height.

whoever these people are complaining about 8 stories don't seem to have minded the 7 storey building in their hood for the last 65 years.

[LRTfan]

it's so overdue but time for all the NIMBYs to move to Tillsonburg and pat each other on the back.

[Chronamut]

I like the design - I think it looks sharp - I like the hybrid of brick and modern elements

[Bubba9000]

What's interesting is the proposed ownership model including raw unfinished, modular units and creative financing partnership. This could be a first in Canada and a way forward for housing overall. See their website: http://www.jvnd.ca/

Some examples of this in Europe:
https://99percentinvisible.org/artic...dable-housing/

[drpgq]

Some density near the GO station. That's great.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by Bubba9000

What's interesting is the proposed ownership model including raw unfinished, modular units and creative financing partnership. This could be a first in Canada and a way forward for housing overall. See their website: http://www.jvnd.ca/

Some examples of this in Europe:
https://99percentinvisible.org/artic...dable-housing/

So would this project be classified as "affordable housing"?

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Bubba9000

What's interesting is the proposed ownership model including raw unfinished, modular units and creative financing partnership. This could be a first in Canada and a way forward for housing overall. See their website: http://www.jvnd.ca/

Some examples of this in Europe:
https://99percentinvisible.org/artic...dable-housing/

That is a really cool proposal. Not only does it mean people strapped for cash can purchase a slightly smaller place, but others can purchase a 3 bedroom if they want. It hopefully leads to more family options than a normal condo developer would want to place in their building.

[LRTfan]

NIMBYs react to a tower proposal: we MUST oppose highrises and build 7-9 storey street walls like they do in Europe!!

8 storey proposal: this is WAY too tall! This isn't Europe for crying out loud! There are single family homes nearby.

[LRTfan]

Wow...having looked through the development package at the bottom of this page, I'm a huge fan!

https://www.svnportal.com/468jamesnorth/

More of this please.

[Bubba9000]

From their twitter account (@JvNdHamilton):

Public Consultation Meeting
Wednesday, July 4, 2018, 7pm
Bennetto Community Centre
450 Hughson St N
Accessible entrance
Childcare provided
Light refreshments

All North End residents, and other community members interested in affordable homeownership development in Hamilton, are invited to attend a public consultation hosted by John van Nostrand Developments (JvN/d), SvN Architects & Planners, and Office Architecture, in collaboration with City of Hamilton planning staff and the North End Neighbourhood Association.

JvN/d is proposing to redevelop the properties located at 468-476 James St N (at the corner of James St N and Ferrie St E) as an eight storey, mixed use, mixed income condominium building. To permit the proposed development, JvN/d has applied for an Official Plan Amendment and a Zoning By-Law Amendment.

JvN/d is a social enterprise, a for-profit company with progressive economic, social, and environmental goals. JvN/d helps low- and moderate-income households overcome barriers to homeownership. Our units are accessible to households with incomes of $25,000 and up. We offer innovative, flexible, participatory housing designs as well as down payment assistance through shared equity co-investment.

The design concepts and down payment financing program have been developed through extensive surveys and interviews with North End residents about their housing needs, the financial barriers to homeownership they have faced, their fears about displacement, and the values they believe should guide development. Development projects often accelerate neighbourhood change and the displacement of existing households. This project aims to intervene in this process by giving priority to local households to access homeownership and long-term housing security in the neighbourhood they love.

For more information about the developer, please visit www.jvnd.ca or call 289-941-0336. To view all of the planning application documents and provide your feedback, please visit www.svnportal.com/468jamesnorth, prepared by SvN Architects & Planners.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/public-m...m-term=listing

[durandy]

There are so many red flags with this idea I can't even get started with it.

[davidcappi]

There are so many red flags with this idea I can't even get started with it.

Yeah aside from the design of the exterior of the building, I find many aspects of this project to be really weird. It's like they're going for an Options For Homes model of financing but OFH has a lot more experience with this sort of project.

[TheRitsman]

So I attended the public neighbourhood meeting regarding this project and colour me impressed. They had a 1.5 hour presentation where the described the project, and the financing in detail along with why they feel it belongs in the area, and explained the goal behind their company.

Here is a quick summary:

- Designed for people making between $25,000 and $100,000. This project is receiving no government subsidies or assistance, it is being sold as the right way to do condos where it is for profit, but not about maximizing profits.

- Being built like an office tower with columns holding the building up, rather than typical condo where walls between units hold the structure.

- You purchase "plots" which are each 250sqft. You can purchase is bare-bones, where there are no finishings which is legally occupiable, and you can also purchase it for a bit more finished off ready to live in. The 1 "plot" unfinished is designed so someone making $25,000 a year can afford it, at $125,000 total

- The presenter indicated that one of the obstacles to low income people is the down payment of condos. So they are helping with this, if you pay 5% down, they will cover the other 15%, but you need to pay it back, there will be no interest on this, but it needs to be paid back in full amount or by the appreciation of the unit. This also means they will be co-signing the mortgage, so they will be involved with the development long after it is finished.

- There will be 48 parking spots, with 91 units, and plenty of parking spaces, as well as ground retail and 5 townhouse units with the bottom level being a retail shop.

- You can purchase 3 "plots" and live in 2 of them, and rent out the third as a separate unit to pay for the mortgage, and then pull down the wall between when you want and add it to your total unit. You can only rent out if you live in the unit for 10 years (to stop investment people, and speculation)

If there are any other questions, I have a pretty good memory of the event, only complaints from the community were 1) some guy didn't like how you could see into his yard from the new development, presenter indicated the building conforms to guidelines and by-laws, 2) someone said there are bungalows beside the development, and the presenter basically said, it is zoned for taller than that, so it likely will not be that way forever considering grow targets 3) same guy about the backyard thing, indicated that he didn't believe this was affordable for people making low wages and that 250sqft. is a shoebox, presenter indicated that no where else can someone in the GTHA actually afford to own a place on minimum wage, this gives them a place to start, and you can always purchase more "plots" up to 4 for 1000sqft in any configuration you want (ie 1000sqft. could house up to 4 bedrooms, but you could just have 1 if you want).

[matt602]

That sounds pretty awesome to me. We need more of these developers who actually care about the people in the neighborhoods that they're developing in.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by matt602

That sounds pretty awesome to me. We need more of these developers who actually care about the people in the neighborhoods that they're developing in.

Originally Posted by matt602

That sounds pretty awesome to me. We need more of these developers who actually care about the people in the neighborhoods that they're developing in.

They also indicated they spoke to 1400 individuals at the door through door knocking, and conducted 35 in depth interviews with members of the community. I don't see many developers engaging in the community prior to or during the process with this amount of effort.

Even if there is anything off about this, more developers being like this would help a ton for getting NIMBYs outta here.

The room of maybe 50 people seemed to be mostly in support of this, there were a few comments made about height, but one lady stood up and made the point that while change may be scary to some, this developer made it seem like there was actual care and effort put into this development.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yeah, it sounds like an interesting initiative.

However, I do agree with the comment about 250 sq ft being a shoe box. That's a room. A small room.

I'll have to think this through a little more...

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Yeah, it sounds like an interesting initiative.

However, I do agree with the comment about 250 sq ft being a shoe box. That's a room. A small room.

I'll have to think this through a little more...

To be fair, if you have a home you can own, at $25,000 I think the person would take a shoebox to start. It's that or rent for life and never increase your equity. My family was able to provide me a ton because they owned a house they sold for more than they bought it, and the mortgage was mostly paid off, so when they moved, there was a ton of extra money for a down payment and they bought a larger house that appreciated in value even more.

I think people do not appreciate how much money is involved in real estate. My family essentially bought a place for $200,000 that increased in value by more than double in 20 years. Making $300,000 extra over 20 years is a lot of money, and that wealth just sits there until they decide to use it. If they had rented those 20 years, they would be paying more rent now than then, they likely would not have upgraded, and 20 years of paying rent would have been money wasted.

When people tell me that renting can be better than owning I personally think they're insane. Unless there is a major crash and you couldn't afford the mortgage in the first place buying is always better. You don't even have to live there. Rent it out to someone else, and rent yourself somewhere cheaper so it's easier to move for work and such