220 Dundurn St | ? | 3 fl | Complete - Page 9

ScreamingViking · #**161** Posted **Aug 5, 2016, 12:53 AM**

Spec story posted this evening:

Denis Vranich: Developer brings new life to abandoned factory
Developer building rental units at Dundurn and Chatham

The Hamilton Spectator -- Aug 4, 2016
By Steve Arnold

One of Hamilton's perennial eyesores has found new life as an apartment building.

The first tenants have taken up residence at the former National Hosiery Mills building — 220 Dundurn St. S. at the corner of Chatham Street. Their arrival brings the site's long journey from abandoned factory to new homes closer to a finish.

"The historic building built by National Hosiery Mills Ltd. in the roaring '20s is now a 124-unit luxury loft apartment in the heart of Hamilton," developer Denis Vranich said in an email exchange.

"Occupancy (permit) was issued mid-July and we are now in the process of moving in our new family of residents."

Vranich's success in turning the once-crumbling brick building into new homes — and tax revenue for the city — ends a 20-year odyssey for the building that has seen several ideas blossom and wither.

Vranich, son of downtown megadeveloper Darko Vranich, purchased the four-acre property in 2007 for $1.5 million. Originally constructed in 1928 by National Hosiery Mills to manufacture silk stockings, it was acquired by the Hamilton Board of Education in 1967 for use as a vocational training centre, storage and a film library.

The school board declared it surplus in 1996 and sold it to a development company called Dundurn Street Loffts for $400,000. Between then and 1999 several development concepts were announced, and 50 deposits for units were collected, but nothing ever materialized on the site.

In 2003 it was sold under power of sale to a numbered company in Thornhill and then to Vranich in January 2007.

Redevelopment work started in October 2012 when the rear section of the building was removed. In the fall of 2014 site plan approval was granted for a three-storey main building plus an extension to the back for a total of 124 units and 216 parking spaces.

...

Read more

Aidan Johnson feels it could have been more (and he's right IMO)... quote from the story:
"I have advocated to Mr. Vranich for first-floor commercial use of the 220 Dundurn property. I have a strong preference for seeing the first storey used for commercial purposes, so as to aid in the revitalization of Dundurn," Johnson said in an email exchange. "Unfortunately, Mr. Vranich has indicated that he is not interested in this idea."

Pics from the story:

markbarbera · #**162** Posted **Aug 5, 2016, 3:00 PM**

If I am recalling this correctly, commercial space was removed from the plans for 220 Dundurn after the neighbourhood successfully convinced the city to block a proposal to add two floors of rental units to the existing structure. With the redevelopment restricted to the existing three floors, all that space was set aside for rental units in order to maintain a viable rental unit count for the project.

atnor · #**163** Posted **Aug 6, 2016, 4:34 AM**

Minus landscaping and cleanup, is this the final design?

Jon Dalton · #**164** Posted **Aug 6, 2016, 7:03 PM**

Commercial pays a higher rent per square foot than residential so I don't know why they would get rid of it to make more residential units. Unless they felt they would have to rent the retail space at a discount in order to fill it.

drpgq · #**165** Posted **Aug 6, 2016, 7:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Commercial pays a higher rent per square foot than residential so I don't know why they would get rid of it to make more residential units. Unless they felt they would have to rent the retail space at a discount in order to fill it.

I don't know if that's necessarily true in Hamilton in a lot of places. Although I would think it would on Dundurn eventually.

Does seem dumb that locals opposed the densification and retail, but I'm not surprised..

SteelTown · #**166** Posted **Mar 2, 2017, 7:05 PM**

From a run down factory to loft apts, my snaps of #Hamont's 220 Dundurn, 2009 to the present. Nice Job!

https://twitter.com/mackaycartoons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Chronamut · #**167** Posted **Mar 2, 2017, 8:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

From a run down factory to loft apts, my snaps of #Hamont's 220 Dundurn, 2009 to the present. Nice Job!

https://twitter.com/mackaycartoons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

a surprisingly nice conversion!

Nice big windows, nice colour of brick, and the black goes well with it

Dr Awesomesauce · #**168** Posted **Mar 2, 2017, 10:59 PM**

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...

thomax · #**169** Posted **Apr 11, 2017, 3:58 PM**

220 Dundurn | 4/9/2017 by Joe, on Flickr

LikeHamilton · #**170** Posted **Apr 11, 2017, 5:41 PM**

Not bad. I just will that they would clean the birk to give it a more even look.

durandy · #**171** Posted **Apr 12, 2017, 2:36 AM**

seriously, people are complimenting this? This is, without hyperbole, the worst piece of garbage building I have ever seen. Look at that corrugated iron penthouse! Look at the mismatched brick! That's not a product of the old brick being dirty, it is just the wrong colour!! And that's just what you see from 100 metres away. Walk close to this building and it's astonishing how poor the workmanship is. The only comparably bad building is the one Vranich renovated at Hess and King.

matt602 · #**172** Posted **Apr 12, 2017, 3:49 PM**

I've seen a hell of a lot worse. The only part about it that I really don't like is that ridiculous black cladding, half story thing along the roof. The mis-matched brick tones are also a bit ugly but the windows seem to compliment the original building well. I haven't walked up to the building in about a year so I can't comment on the build quality but I am familiar with the state of the building while it was abandoned. The amount of it that they managed to save is actually kinda impressive.

king10 · #**173** Posted **Apr 12, 2017, 4:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by durandy

seriously, people are complimenting this? This is, without hyperbole, the worst piece of garbage building I have ever seen. Look at that corrugated iron penthouse! Look at the mismatched brick! That's not a product of the old brick being dirty, it is just the wrong colour!! And that's just what you see from 100 metres away. Walk close to this building and it's astonishing how poor the workmanship is. The only comparably bad building is the one Vranich renovated at Hess and King.

I've seen a million times worse.

Dr Awesomesauce · #**174** Posted **Apr 13, 2017, 12:23 AM**

Clumsy doesn't do it justice.

eatboots · #**175** Posted **Apr 13, 2017, 3:24 AM**

I believe the saying is: good from far, far from good.

thistleclub · #**176** Posted **Jun 25, 2020, 5:57 PM**

Axed condo deals at 220 Dundurn spark two lawsuits
(Hamilton Spectator, Steve Buist, June 25 2020)

Angry purchasers and a jilted real estate brokerage have filed separate lawsuits against the owner of a Dundurn Street building after a planned condominium conversion project was axed one day before the deals would become official.

A group of 32 individuals and corporations that purchased units in the converted industrial building at 220 Dundurn St. S. is seeking $6 million in damages from Denis Vranich and three of his companies for breach of contract and acting in bad faith for allegedly terminating the sales agreements on Dec. 30, one day before the conditions on the deals were due to expire.

Mint Realty, a Waterloo-based realtor operating as Condo Culture, is seeking $2.1 million in damages in a separate suit for sales commissions allegedly owed that weren’t paid out because the agreements were terminated prior to closing.

Vranich denied any wrongdoing in a statement provided by a law firm that has acted for him in other matters.

Read it in full here.

Dr Awesomesauce · #**177** Posted **Jun 25, 2020, 11:22 PM**

I was wondering what old Denis was up to...

ScreamingViking · #**178** Posted **Jun 26, 2020, 2:30 AM**

I'm shocked

Looked at one of the loft units last November. Good thing we decided to wait on it.

LikeHamilton · #**179** Posted **Aug 20, 2020, 5:15 PM**

Dundurn condo project seeks refinancing as mortgage holder demands payment

The owner of a beleaguered Dundurn Street condominium project is threatening bankruptcy if a refinancing proposal doesn’t obtain court approval.

Dundurn Estates Inc., the new owner of the condo project at 220 Dundurn Street South, is trying to secure financing after failing to meet the lender’s demand to repay the mortgage in full when it became due late last year.

Legal troubles have been piling up for the Dundurn project since December, when the planned transfer of condo units to purchasers was suddenly cancelled the day before the deals were to become official.

The building, used long ago to make silk stockings, was developed by Denis Vranich and converted into 124 condominium units.

Vranich and the tangled web of companies that own — or formerly owned — 220 Dundurn St. S. are now facing two lawsuits seeking a total of $8 million from a group of angry condo purchasers and a jilted real estate brokerage.

Vranich declined to comment because the matter is still before the court.

The rest

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...s-payment.html

Innsertnamehere · #**180** Posted **Aug 20, 2020, 5:49 PM**

Wait, this thing still isn't registered? What!? This has been occupied for 3 years!