Thomas Building unveiled.. - Page 3

oldcoote · #41 Posted: **Jul 21, 2010, 8:31 PM**

Scaffolding was going up in front of the Thomas Building today.
Removing the old windows.

matt602 · #42 Posted: **Jul 22, 2010, 1:06 AM**

I hope that's a good sign. I can't really see them wasting the time if they're gonna knock it over though.

LikeHamilton · #43 Posted: **Jul 25, 2010, 7:37 PM**

Picture taken 25 July 2010

SteelTown · #44 Posted: **Aug 10, 2010, 12:39 AM**

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...09PED10175.pdf

That approval be given to Heritage Permit Application, by Anthony (Tony) DePasquale, of Copper Cliff Metals & Wrecking Corp., as Authorized Agent for LIUNA Local 837 Lister Property Corporation, to permit the disassembly, removal, storage, and re-assembly of the front façade of 46 - 52 James Street North (Hamilton) (William Thomas Building).

matt602 · #45 Posted: **Aug 10, 2010, 2:09 AM**

Very nice

Good stuff LIUNA.

oldcoote · #46 Posted: **Aug 10, 2010, 2:37 PM**

yes, good news.

SteelTown · #47 Posted: **Sep 3, 2010, 1:56 AM**

Part of the approval is that the project must be completed no later than July 31, 2014.

matt602 · #48 Posted: **Sep 3, 2010, 3:03 AM**

Any word on what will be done with the building itself?

flar · #49 Posted: **Sep 3, 2010, 3:05 AM**

Sounds like they'll tear it down, build a modern building and reuse the stone blocks for the facade.

oldcoote · #50 Posted: **Oct 21, 2010, 7:59 PM**

Some of the scaffolding is down. You can see the top floor facade is completely gone. This may have been concrete block added after the original.

SteelTown · #51 Posted: **Oct 29, 2010, 1:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

That's more than I can say for the neighbouring Thomas building.

You can see they've taken the facade apart piece by piece.

matt602 · #52 Posted: **Oct 31, 2010, 1:00 AM**

I'd really like to know what exactly they will be doing. Taking the facade off, ripping down the rest of the building and putting the facade back up on the new one?

Gotta say that now that the facade is off, its easy to see that the building actually isn't all too great. 150 years has had its toll.

SteelTown · #53 Posted: **Nov 20, 2010, 2:32 AM**

Piece work: James Street façade numbered and stored

John Kernaghan
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...red-and-stored

They’re putting a rebuilt face on a new body down on James Street North to maintain a streetscape in keeping with the Lister Block.

Workmen have been carefully taking apart the façade of the historic Thomas building at 42-56 James North, numbering the pieces and storing them at LIUNA Station for reassembly.

John Spolnik, director of Hamilton’s building services division, says the project to remove the heritage pieces and reassemble them on a brand-new building at the same site is one of the more complex construction jobs in Hamilton.

“They’re down to about nine feet above ground level and the demolition permit will be executed,” he said. “The condition of most of the building meant new construction was the only way to preserve heritage elements.”

He said the owners, LIUNA, acted quickly to shore up non-heritage elements of the building following a city order.

They were hoping to stave off a potential collapse like the Balfour building nearby on King William Street.

Meantime, a heritage consultant recommended the owner be allowed to build a new main structure and be granted a permit to deconstruct the façade following a 30-point guideline in removing, repairing and replacing elements to preserve as many original features as possible.

A heritage assessment said William Thomas’ commercial building reflected the prosperity of Hamilton in the 1850s and included high levels of craftsmanship which included flourishes such as cornices, decorative window trip and ornate masonry.

Thomas was a key figure in the Renaissance Revival school of architecture and designed buildings across Ontario, and includes St. Lawrence Hall and Market Toronto and Brock’s Monument in Queenston.

Kathy Drewitt, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement Area, said work on the Thomas building is taking a potentially dangerous structure and recreating an exciting streetscape.

“There were actually sections of the façade leaning away from the building and some pieces were hitting the sidewalk.”

Drewitt said most of Thomas’ architectural flourishes had been covered in steel cladding and some had been removed, complicating the process of recreating the original.

She said renewing some of the classic architecture of the city core is a key ingredient in breathing new economic life into the city centre.

DC1983 · #54 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 3:02 PM**

today

photo by me

One year ago TODAY:

Quote:

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

Picture taken 25 July 2010

SteelTown · #55 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 3:16 PM**

The facade of the building is stored at LIUNA station.

DC1983 · #56 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 3:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The facade of the building is stored at LIUNA station.

Neat. I didn't even see one truck transporting the items, yet I walk this exact route daily.

Where they storing it? SISO's office? LOL Ohhh.. too soon?

SteelTown · #57 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 3:52 PM**

You can see parts of the facade on this truck

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...5&postcount=51

drpgq · #58 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 5:22 PM**

So do we know what use the building that's supposed to replace this empty hole will have? Senior's home? More space for the city where they have to pay rent way over the odds?

mattgrande · #59 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 5:51 PM**

I thought they were renovating it. Is this going to be a whole new building with the old facade?

thistleclub · #60 Posted: **Jul 25, 2011, 5:52 PM**

Is it possible that the Thomas was once part of the original Lister Block vision?

Lister Shrinkage Escapes Council Notice [CATCH, June 13, 2006]

It wasn't mentioned in Monday's passionate debate at city council, but the proposed replacement building for the Lister Block has shrunk in size - from 120,000 square feet promised in 2005 to 100,000 square feet today. The reduction means one-third less tax revenue for the city from the project, and less economic impact on the downtown. The change seems to have escaped the notice of councillors, and wasn't mentioned in the verbal report presented to them yesterday by their staff.

The city would still lease 60,000 square feet, but as a result of the shrinking building size that now constitutes 60% of the project rather than the 50% originally promised. Since the city exempts itself from paying property taxes, the expected annual addition to city tax coffers would only come from the 40,000 square feet to be rented to other as yet unidentified tenants.

The May 2005 city staff report stated that "LIUNA advised the city of Hamilton that it plans to proceed to redevelop the Lister building to create 120,000 square of office space" and that LIUNA had asked the city "to commit to 60,000 square feet of office space in order to secure financial viability for the project." That deal was approved last year, tentatively committing the city to pay $32.3 million for the 15-year lease of the space.

The May 3, 2006 staff report presented to the city's heritage committee uses the same 120,000 figure: "The proponent proposes to construct a first phase of a minimum of 120,000 square feet of new, Class 'A' office space in the downtown core."

Late Release Of Details Of Lister Deal [CATCH, June 21, 2008]

A $29 million deal that would see the city take ownership of the Lister Block will be debated by councillors on Monday morning. In addition to costs, the three year saga continues to be dogged by transparency issues.

Staff recommendations posted on the city’s website late Friday afternoon (June 20) would see the city pay Local 837 of the Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA) $25 million for a restored 65,000 square foot Lister. The city would also pay for tenant improvements and other costs totalling $4.1 million and would use a promised provincial government grant of $7 million to lower the upfront costs to $22.1 million.

Staff are calculating the overall occupancy cost as $39.90 a square foot – a little more than double the $19 average that staff estimate as the cost for other downtown office space. That would mean taxpayers would need to kick in $1.35 million a year more than if the city leased space somewhere else in the downtown.

In addition to rebuilding the Lister to city specifications for occupancy in March 2012, LIUNA would also commit to opening 200 residential retirement units by 2017 that staff believe will add at least $1 million a year to city tax coffers. If those additional buildings aren’t put in place, the city would impose a one-time $1 million penalty on LIUNA.

The proposal differs substantially from the 2005 plan which would have seen the city sign a 20-year lease for half of a much larger building that replicated rather than restored the heritage features. The annual cost to taxpayers of that arrangement were estimated at $312,000 to $364,000.