95 King St. East | ? | 3 fl | Approved

[Pearlstreet]

Studio office / loft entrance inside:


I would have taken more but my berry died...

Source: Me

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Not sure exactly what I'm looking at but it looks great.

[matt602]

It's the entry way on the ground floor to the residential units. The first shot is toward the back of the building, the second shot is towards King Street.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Cheers. Love it.

There are so many great candidates for that sort of makeover on King. I think we'll see this continue slowly and steadily right through the IV.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by drpgq

No gallery could make it with the rent they want for the main floor.

That might have been the feedback they received as well.

In an April 18, 2013 report, CityHousing Hamilton's Brenda Osborne wrote:

"An operating budget based on the December 31, 2012 final results for the 89 King Street East property has been developed (Appendix A). Residential units are based on $675.00 per month and studio space averaged at $275.00 per month, the exhibit space is conservatively estimated at $10,000.00 annually."

Comparing April 2013 to August 2009, the exhibit space rent is 84% lower than first projected, while residential rents are slightly higher. That, along with the addition of previously unaccounted-for eight studio spaces to the revenue column largely offset the subsidized commercial space.

Projected Annual Revenues (Aug 2009): $141,600
Projected Annual Revenues (Apr 2013): $134,100

Projected Annual Expenses (Aug 2009): $65,200
Projected Annual Expenses (Apr 2013): $102,925

Projected Surplus (Aug 2009); $76,400
Projected Surplus (Apr 2013): $31,175

If rents are as described in recent press coverage (ie. apartments $150/month higher, studios $50/month lower than April projections), revenues will surpass initial projections.

CHH's Board meets in camera this Thursday, to discuss the property, possibly establishing eligibility criteria or narrowing the shortlist of potential operators for the studio/event space.

[beanmedic]

Rumour has it that somebody wants to lease the first floor space and make it into an Italian restaurant, in place of the planned gallery space.

[matt602]

That's kind of ridiculous.

[thomax]

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[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

this looks beautiful!! great to see someone fixing up a unique space and making it urban and artistically interesting

[matt602]

Oh I totally want one of those units. Too bad I'm only starving, and not an artist.

[thistleclub]

Thier + Curran Architects transform Hamilton strip club to housing and cultural space
(Canadian Architect, Dec 10 2013)

Hamilton-based Thier + Curran Architects has recently unveiled the 95 King Street East Arts Centre and Lofts in downtown Hamilton, a handsome new addition that emerged from the shell of a former strip club.

The City of Hamilton Housing Division engaged TCA to adaptively reuse this high-visibility historic building and former strip club into an arts centre with a multi-purpose gallery/event space, eight artists’ studios, a meeting room and 12 loft apartments. Intended to contribute to the burgeoning downtown renewal well established nearby, this is intended as a catalyst for renewal of the Gore Park area, a triangular park that is at the heart of downtown Hamilton.

The building is well over 100 years old, with a 1923 façade that has been much abused over the years. It has housed a hardware store, a famous nightclub called Diamond Jim’s, a pool hall and most notoriously and recently, a strip club. In its nightclub days, an intermediate floor was replaced by a partial mezzanine, which TCA removed to make a full two-storey-high ground floor, adding much to the drama of the ground floor spaces and the storefront.

With a modest $3-million construction budget, 95 King is a bold and dynamic renovation that includes remarkable attention to inspirational elements and details for the artistic community it houses. The City envisioned a vibrant hub for the arts community, a facility with broad appeal and significant impact as a diversified centre for all the arts and for people of all ages, with a buzz of activity all day every day....

The program for the project includes a ground floor 1,800-square-foot space intended as an art gallery and multi-purpose space. It is two storeys high with a fully glazed storefront, and is an inspiring and unique space. There are four main-floor studios each about 400 to 500 square feet, all two storeys and daylit by clerestory windows. There are four smaller basement studios, a meeting room, shared washrooms and artist wash-up area, laundry, storage, etc. The upper two floors contain 12 one-bedroom loft apartments.

The architects intend the building to be inspiring to work and live in, and amenable to fostering community. Narrow windows in corridors engage residential apartment users with the arts spaces. Custom graphics designed by the architects include entrance signage to apartments and studios, including a panel for mounting of personalized identity mementos for the artist tenants. Custom floor graphics and washroom and stairwell signs were also developed in addition to arts-related inspirational quotes selected by the architects that were placed throughout the building on every apartment and studio door.

Soaring ceilings afforded by the existing building heights lend an expansiveness to the loft-style apartments which are modest in size, ranging from 500 to 700 square feet. Upscale amenities like parquet wood floors, frosted glass sliding bedroom doors and custom wood trim belie typical affordable housing expectations. Attention to detail has been carried throughout the modest apartments; kitchens have sinks with integral drainboards and gooseneck faucets, ceramic tile floors and mosaic glass tile backsplashes and sleek cabinet pulls and door bumpers. Light fixtures, electrical devices and hardware all received special consideration from the architects with an aim towards selecting stylish yet budget-conscious choices. Generous window seats in the front units provide comfort and amenity. Where possible the old and new have been sensitively blended with some units featuring exposed brick walls and wood ceilings as well as original steel columns and beams bearing the insignia “Hamilton Bridge and Tank Works”—a storied local company of times past. All apartments have roller blinds, are air conditioned, have high-efficiency combination water heater/furnace units and have in-suite laundry roughed in.

Bright colours, supergraphics, unique lighting, and custom-designed elements characterize the common areas of the building. The apartment lobby features custom millwork including a bench for lingering and a focal mailbox/bulletin board display wall designed around the fragments of an old wall safe. Patterned sheet vinyl floors provide low maintenance flooring in apartment corridors. Economical vinyl tiles in a random, multicoloured pattern are used in the basement corridor and finished spaces. Exceptional attention to design details can be found throughout; apartment unit entrances feature tile surrounds, lights and custom signage. Each entrance has oversized plastic laminate doors with matching transom panels and narrow profile metal frames with drywall reveals.

The arts centre space includes unique design features like a custom steel portal/bench/railing/drink rail at the transition between levels, unusual LED track lighting and super-slim T-8 suspended lights. Exposed brick walls contain fragments of past lives including old drainpipes, wood framing and damaged brick areas, all retained to keep the patina of history. All metal doors were finished by two local artists with metal work experience, Dave Hind and Tor Lukasik-Foss. Each door treatment is a unique, individual collaboration with the architects, and are made with hand tools like grinders, sanders and steel plate templates. Existing concrete floors on the ground floor have been polished as features, left uneven with the patina of history.

Read it in full here.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by lucasmascotto

You can read the article ["Hamilton's thriving condo scene", Toronto Sun, Dec 27 2013] here: http://virtual.homes-extra.ca/doc/To...21901/1.html#3

Interesting to see 95 King East described as condos (and represent, in this article at least, a third of our thriving condo scene). I suppose you could describe the Gore Building and Terraces on King the same way.

95 King East's residential criteria has apparently been determined, though this is the first I had heard of it:

"To qualify, you must be a working artist for three years -- tax returns would be required to prove this -- as well as a reference letter from clients or peers to verify the kind of work that they do. All artists are welcome, though, not just your classic painters and sculptors but graphic designers, novelists and digital photographers."

[LikeHamilton]

From:- Hamilton Economic Development Office

New Artist Shared Living and Work Space in Downtown Core
95 King Street offers affordable housing and studio space for Hamilton's creative minds.

http://www.bizclip.com/investinhamil...eamname=95king

[palace1]

I don't think the Hamilton Artist Lofts, the Gore Building or the Terraces on King can be described as condominiums.

They are all monthly rental apartment buildings with no option to legally own your unit. The ownership remains with the City Housing Corp.

I wonder how enforceable the 'artist' requirement is? Will it be first come first served, or will a jury decide based on merit?

At the Open House they were handing out folders with floor plans and the wikipedia definition of 'artist' .

[mattgrande]

There was a more stringent definition of "artist" elsewhere... I believe they have to provide income tax statements showing that the majority of their income has been from the arts over the past three years. Something like that, I'll try and dig it up...

[fizzle]

Oh my. These are beautiful. And dirt cheap rent too. Dot a few more of these downtown, or better yet, someone smart make a few more of these with commercial on the bottom and residential above, and you're cooking.

[arch100]

Featured in the Daily Commercial News today.



From strip club to an arts centre — a Hamilton transformation story
PATRICIA WILLIAMS
staff writer
It is not every day that a firm of architects is retained to transform a former strip club into a combined arts centre/loft development.
But Thier + Curran Architects (TCA) Inc. did just that, at 95 King St. E. in downtown Hamilton, Ont.
Armed with a modest $3 million construction budget, the firm converted a building that was well over 100 years old into an arts centre with a multi-purpose gallery/event space, eight artist studios, a meeting room and 12 loft apartments.
The project was undertaken for the City of Hamilton’s Housing Division by a team that included general contractor Porteus-Hardcastle, structural engineer Maitland Spencer, mechanical engineer Costas Pashartis of COPA Engineering and electrical engineer Jordan Acri of Fortech Engineering.
Bill Curran, a principal in the Hamilton-based architectural firm, said the project posed its share of challenges from both an architectural and construction perspective.
In part, the development is intended to serve as a catalyst for renewal of the Gore Park area, a triangular park that is at the heart of downtown Hamilton. Achieving that goal on a tight budget was in itself a challenge, he said.
Curran said the age of the building “and decades of neglect” were issues as well.
Over the years, the building variously had housed a hardware store, a nightclub called Diamond Jim’s, a pool hall and “most notoriously and recently” a strip club.
In the building’s nightclub days, an intermediate floor was replaced by a partial mezzanine. This was removed during construction to accommodate a two-storey-high space on the ground floor.
Curran said a number of concealed deficiencies were uncovered during demolition.
The site proved challenging for the contractor as well, with the building covering the entire property, a main street in front, a “busy and narrow” alley in the rear and occupied buildings all around.
The architects’ overall intent was to design a facility that was inspiring to both work and live in and one that was amenable to fostering a sense of community. To this end, narrow windows in corridors engage residential apartment users with the arts spaces.
Custom graphics designed by the architects include entrance signage to apartments and studios, including a panel for mounting of personalized identity mementos for the artist tenants.
Custom floor graphics and washroom and stairwell signs were also developed in addition to arts-related inspirational quotes that were placed throughout the building on every apartment and studio door.
The ground floor arts centre space includes such features as a custom steel portal/bench/railing/drink rail at the transition between levels, unusual LED track lighting and super-slim T-8 suspended lights. Exposed brick walls contain fragments of the past, including old drainpipes, wood framing and damaged brick areas.
Metal doors were finished by two local artists with metal work experience. Doors were crafted with hand tools such as grinders and sanders.
Existing concrete floors on the ground floor have been polished.
On the building’s exterior, the front masonry façade of the upper two floors has been restored with new windows that follow the original design and rehabilitated masonry.
Thier + Curran said the new angular curtain wall and faceted metal panel storefront offer “a clear delineation” from the historic residential façade above.
The project was completed in October.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Thanks for bumping this thread. Such a great story.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

There was a more stringent definition of "artist" elsewhere... I believe they have to provide income tax statements showing that the majority of their income has been from the arts over the past three years. Something like that, I'll try and dig it up...

CityHousing Hamilton has not gone out of its way to be transparent on these points. AFAIK, to date the criteria has only been publicized by the Toronto Sun:

“To qualify, you must be a working artist for three years -- tax returns would be required to prove this -- as well as a reference letter from a client or peers to verifty the kind of work that they do. All artists are welcome, though, not just your classic painters and sculptors, but graphic designer, novelists and digital photographers.”

While 95KE is positioned as artists’ live/work space, the ratio of apartments to studios is obviously lopsided. As well, CityHousing Hamilton has in the past alluded to “conflicting priorities between resident and non resident artists around studio space rental,” so it’s unclear how this will shake down.

Given the wording of the Toronto Sun story, it is also unclear if this the artist criteria applies to the eight subsidized studio space or the dozen units of market-price housing (CityHousing Hamilton’s mandate is typically affordable, rent-geared-to-income housing, but for some reason an economically marginalized population -- in 2006, the average earnings of Hamilton artists was 42% less than other Hamilton workers, higher than the Ontario average income gap of 38% -- is able to pay market rent).

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Also featured in Toronto's online mag, Yonge Street: http://www.yongestreetmedia.ca/