The Idea Factory

[astroblaster]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

an IMAX theatre downtown

nice one. i agree. hate having to go to Mississauga for them. maybe they'll do one on the east mountain/stoney creek (they are building a theater in that area , no?) that might be a bit more realistic than a downtown one.. even though downtown would be cooler.

also, I hear theres a new silver city in oakville that has "VIP" theaters with a bar. love it. we should get one of those too. im pretty sure hamilton will support antything that involves booze.

[DC83]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

an IMAX theatre downtown

How about a decent, modern movie theatre in general. That's one problem downtown, no one goes to the Empire in JS b/c it lacks modern cinema amenities.

I know a perfect spot, King William & John behind 77/ Dirty Dogs. Still close enough to the arts district, and hopefully a chance to revive King William into an entertainment district again w/ fancy restos back, some clubs & bars, etc.
Much like the former Paramount Theatre, now Scotia Theatre, @ John & Richmond in TO.


photo by Miniwheats @ http://toronto.ourfaves.com/place/Sc...=25&t=1306&m=3


If KW needed anything to bring it back, a Modern Cinema would be it: not a 9-5 business crowd inside Lister.

[astroblaster]

Originally Posted by DC83

I know a perfect spot, King William & John behind 77/ Dirty Dogs.

that's a pretty sweet spot for it, actually. nice

[DC83]

^^ it would definately bring ppl back to this area which is currently a dead zone (hmmm, empty lots on every corner, I wonder why).
And give a nice view for those entering from York-Cannon!

[SteelTown]

My ultimate dream is to tunnel a section of Main St W from Bay to James St. Therefore City Hall’s forecourt could connect with Commonwealth Square to make a giant Civic Square with AGH, Football Hall of Fame, Convention Centre, Hamilton Place, etc. Only LRT and HSR could drive along the new Civic Square.

Add a bunch of trees, grass, trails, benches, funky streetlights and you got a great spot to hang out especially with the ice rack.

Would probably cost somewhere $50 million to tunnel Main St but its done all over Europe.

[astroblaster]

both main and king tunnels would be sweet.

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

My ultimate dream is to tunnel a section of Main St W from Bay to James St. Therefore City Hall’s forecourt could connect with Commonwealth Square to make a giant Civic Square with AGH, Football Hall of Fame, Convention Centre, Hamilton Place, etc. Only LRT and HSR could drive along the new Civic Square.

Add a bunch of trees, grass, trails, benches, funky streetlights and you got a great spot to hang out especially with the ice rack.

Would probably cost somewhere $50 million to tunnel Main St but its done all over Europe.

you don't need tunnels for that idea.
Just turn Queen, Bay, Wellington, Victoria to two-way along with Wilson, Cannon, King, Charlton and Herkimer. keep LRT on Main St in the civic square and all cars are re-routed to one of the other 28 east/west traffic lanes downtown.

[emge]

A grocery store instead of that bingo hall.. wow, that alone would do so much good in both the "getting rid" and "bringing in" departments. the chapters idea as well.

I'd love to see the shutdown coffeehouse and the red lion inn at King & Bay totally renovated, the corner turned into a Starbucks/Williams/Second Cup type place with a Hamilton gift shop/tourism information centre beside it + a decent hotel or apartments upstairs . Though I like independent coffee shops, here I'd find a chain more appropriate.

[rousseau]

Can fantasies be included in this thread?

If I had wealth of Bill Gates' proportions I would buy up the several parking lots north of downtown and put up a liberal arts/research university. I would spend lavishly on the buildings in order to avoid the brutalist architecture that typifies mid to late 20th century public buildings. Hamilton would become a serious academic centre a la Boston. The name of my institution? The University of Gene Levy--shortform: U. Gene Levy. Who was Gene Levy? Dunno, we'll make something up.

I would also play at being a developer, and would take the James Street North streetscape on the east side of the street between Cannon and Vine and replicate it anywhere and everywhere around my new university, except the frontage would be first-floor retail with three floors above it instead of just two. Cannon Street would be transformed all the way from Wellington to Bay. I would screen applicants (bit autocratic this, I know!) for the retail space and give them 5 years occupancy completely free of rent or utilities, after which they would have to pay market rates. I would do infill projects consisting of New York-esque four-floor walkup apartments/condos anywhere and everywhere I could. Yes, this would involve buying up and razing blocks of crappy one-floor houses clad in vinyl siding. I would insist on one English-style public square in and amongst all of this, or maybe even two or three.

Ideally, we would get 15,000 students in the downtown area during the day, 10,000 or more of them sleeping there at night, and another 10,000 residents living in the walkup apartments/condos. The ripple effect would be enormous.

Do I have any willing investors?

[hamiltonguy]

Never mind a new University, lets get Redeemer Downtown. The city can buy the parking lots, and secure the help of a developed to redevelop the Redeemer land in Ancaster. The city could provide partial funding (Residential Loan Program) for the new dorms. Redeemer might make a tidy little profit, from the sale of the land in Ancaster. Anyone here know any big rollers that would help finance this?