[raisethehammer]

ok, so with the impending retirement of the fellow who owns Puttin on the Ritz and the closure of Hakim Optical I thought I'd start a thread to get your ideas for King West.
For the sake of definition, let's include the entire area from Bay to Dundurn.
We've heard rumours of a concert hall/House of Blues coming to King and Hess.
The Westside Concert Theatre is open near King and Locke.
Unfortunately, much of this stretch is a highway which hurts business and Hamilton's image.
What is your vision for this historic and important stretch of Hamilton?
It connects downtown/AGH/Jackson Sq complex to Hess Village and then down to Locke St and Victoria Park.
It used to be incredibly vibrant and full of business before the one-way streets. Stable residential areas exist on either side of the strip.
Share your ideas for street conversion as well as your ideas for new businesses to locate in place of the ones who have just left. Hakim Optical building has great windows and is in a prime spot.
Fire away!

[DC83]

Ya wow... I was so shocked to see Hakim Optical w/ no big pictures of faces wearing glasses in those big windows. It's been almost like a landmark.

I think KingWest is going to redefine itself from a former "vintage/retro" style depot to somehting more original. I think it'll stay a fashion district (of sorts) for a while still, with more restaurants & lounges. As Hess expands, KingW will see a spinoff. ESP if they build that concert hall. wow.

I thought they were redoing KingW between James/Queen to be 2way? And when is that lot at Hess/King suppose to be turned into the parkette/mini public square?

[SteelTown]

^ Won't start until 2010.

[raisethehammer]

i hope they can retain the fashion/retail. it's been the best strip downtown for that. now all that'll be left is Deja Vu and Metro.

[fastcarsfreedom]

The decline in this stretch surprises me--especially with the presence of Hess Village in the middle, the reborn AGH as an anchor and the diverse residential base in the area. There are a few long standing "holes"--namely the parking lot beside the AGH and the old Bay-King Motors property--in fill in these areas would go a long way to helping this area.

Further up is there not a Holiday Inn Express going in?

[DC83]

The Holiday Inn Express is at Main/Spring (near Wellington).
There's another hotel planned for the Main/Hess location tho, is there not? Not the mention King/Queen has a proposed condo development too.

There are several holes along this stretch, including some that contain retail and housing. Look at King/Caroline (south side)... even though there's a Tim's and a shawarma/convenience store, it's set back for parking breaking up the streetwall making it seem like a hole.
There's also a couple dark & dingy houses along the north side of king between Hess & Caroline. They need to be revamped or replaced ASAP.

There are still several clothing shops along the strip even w/ Puttin' On The Ritz's leaving: Flat Spot, Metro, DejaVu, the new Urban Clothing store that seems to be opening... along with several great restaurants (gotta love Papagayo & La Luna) and some service shops too.

I wouldn't say this stretch is in decline at all; just a natural transition.

[raisethehammer]

Main and Spring is Days Inn.
Holiday Inn is planned for King and Queen.

I think with the new Hilton and fed buildings lofts, retail/parking at Hess and Main we'll see this area start to boom. I wouldn't call it decline. people retire and stores move on sometimes.
I've been surprised that Hakim held on as long as it did in Hamilton - land of Great Glasses! haha

[DC83]

I've been surprised that Hakim held on as long as it did in Hamilton - land of Great Glasses! haha

Great Glasses LOVES suburbs... Hakim seemed to thrive off urban areas. They have another great streetfront store at the Queenston Traffic Cricle.
And I've seen tons around Toronto.

[SteelTown]

The North side of King St West is fine just the South side of King St West needs a lot of work.

It would be nice if they could relocate the fashion district to King St W instead of Main St W. Main St W should be all residential condos anyways.

A few steps away they are building those affordable housing projects from Salvation Army.

[DC83]

It would be nice if they could relocate the fashion district to King St W instead of Main St W. Main St W should be all residential condos anyways.

There are only what, 2 or 3 "high end" fashion stores on MainW as it is?
So they'd be very welcome on KingW, I'm sure. The guy that owns the whole block at King/Bay needs to go. He's a slumlord and wont sell to the city. All he cares about is keeping his beautiful Durand home freshly stoccoed (oh yes he did).

The plan the city had for that block looked great. I think a movie theater'esq type of development a-la Chapters/Silvercity at John/Richmond in Toronto would fit in really well with this neighbourhood. Maybe in the S/W lot of King/Bay.

That Tim's needs to be rotated 90 degrees so that it actually completely faces King... then maybe I wouldn't hate it so much. But while I'm thinking of it, all Tim's downtown (besides Right House) need to be pushed up to street-level. They're all bad (Main/Wellington, John/Jackson, Bay/Cannon, and of course King/Caroline).

[SteelTown]

There are probably 3 well known fashion stores and they've been successful because they target a certain audience, wealthy ladies.

There's been many clothing stores popping up at Main W and all failed, most recently 2Face. Now if it was located at King W it probably would have had more success, there's more foot traffic.

[DC83]

King, Bay, Market and Caroline Streets Development Study

http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/CityandGovernment/CityDepartments/PlanningEcDev/Development/UrbanDesign/PastProjects/Bay+and+King+Streets+Development+Study.htm

http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CFA43D02-BE79-43F0-93F8-0052AF504881/0/KingStWestBayCarolineMixedUse.pdf