Downtown Update

[mattgrande]

Wow, $2.75m for a small parking lot? I wouldn't have expected it to be so much.

[Pearlstreet]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Wow, $2.75m for a small parking lot? I wouldn't have expected it to be so much.

Wouldn't an investor buy the two places next door for a fraction of the price and build there?

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Wow, $2.75m for a small parking lot? I wouldn't have expected it to be so much.

There's oil on that property.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

There's oil on that property.

Could be true, if there was ever a service station located on it.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^You ruined my joke.

[drpgq]

Where do they get 88 from?

"Property may suit 88 unit condo development."

Is that based on what the zoned number of stories is?

[LikeHamilton]

Get used to taller buildings as Hamilton's housing boom continues

By Samantha Craggs, CBC News Posted: Nov 04, 2014 4:19 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 05, 2014 9:12 AM ET

If Hamilton wants to keep its healthy housing growth, experts say, it’s going to have to get used to intensification. That includes more buildings, taller buildings and condo towers in new locations.

Hamilton housing prices are on an upward swing, and will continue that way beyond 2015, experts said at a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) seminar on Tuesday.

'Some think intensification is not appropriate, that it’s a dirty word.'
- Ross Godsoe, CEO, Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington
But developers are running out of available land, which means the future of Hamilton’s housing market is up, not out. And Hamiltonians will have to get used to it, said Ross Godsoe, CEO of the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington.

“Some think intensification is not appropriate, that it’s a dirty word,” Godsoe said after the panel “Will residential intensification be a solution?”

“There’s not a lot of green space available,” he said. “Maybe there is today, but if you project five, 10 years down the road, there’s very little serviced land available. So what else do you do? You go up.”

It's a dynamic that's already happening in Hamilton. New CMHC figures show there'll be an increase in the number of multi-unit buildings over the next two years. A number of high-rise condo projects are already in the works downtown, including the proposed 22-storey project at the former Tivoli Theatre. A planned 30-storey condo project at the former James Street Baptist Church site, The Connelly, would be the third tallest building in Hamilton.

Building up requires educating the community on why it’s happening, Godsoe said. The issue still faces NIMBYism in Hamilton, including complaints about building heights and the impact on neighbourhoods.

The key, he said, is for developers to get the community involved at the start of the project, and to pitch projects that suit the area.

The rest of the storey:-

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...nues-1.2823667

[Dr Awesomesauce]

'Building up requires educating the community on why it’s happening, Godsoe said. The issue still faces NIMBYism in Hamilton, including complaints about building heights and the impact on neighbourhoods.'

Educating the developers more like. Get with the 20th century already.

[lucasmascotto]

Winning downtown murals unveiled
(The Hamilton Spectator: Thursday, November 06, 2014)
By: David Churchill

Five murals, the crowning touch on a $230,000 beautification project for a downtown alley, will have to wait a couple more weeks.

The murals, chosen as part of the Up Your Alley project and unveiled Thursday morning, will be hung in the alley which runs behind King between James and Wellington streets sometime in the next month, said Oliver Hierlihy, beautification project coordinator for the Downtown BIA.

The busy alley has been cleaned up, lights have been added and garbage collection has been modified to keep it litter-free.

Downtown BIA executive director Kathy Drewitt said the project is a partnership with them, the International Village BIA, the city and local business and building owners.

"Everyone pulled together to do something about a situation that was getting a little bit out of hand," she said.

There were more than 30 entries in the mural contest, with the winning five each receiving $1,000, according to the Downtown BIA. The murals will be printed on vinyl and mounted on aluminum panels. Each is about two metres wide by one metre deep.

The murals were painted by local artist Anita Helen MacLean, who did three, and Oshawa artist Claudette Losier.

Losier said she has painted in a number of cities around the world, but lately has been attracted to Hamilton. One of her two winning entries captures the gates entering downtown at King and Wellington.

"This is such a beautiful city," said Losier. "For an artist, I find Hamilton really fascinating."

Drewitt said hundreds of people walk the alley every day — including at night — and now with newly-installed lighting, the alley seems brighter and safer. The area was also power-washed twice over the summer and city crews have been busy removing graffiti.

Hierlihy said garbage pickup times have also been shuffled to keep the area cleaner. Garbage pickup had previously been done five days a week in different parts of the neighbourhood, he said. That has now been reduced to three days with businesses being given a two- or three-hour pickup window so the garbage is removed quickly.

Glen Norton, manager of urban renewal, planning and economic development for the city, said the project could set the standard for future alley beautification throughout downtown.

"People across the city are anxious to reclaim their alleys," he said. "It's not intended to end here."

[movingtohamilton]

A Dundas resident recommends the bulldozing of Beasley for a grand downtown park! Idiot.

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story...rand-our-city/

Do read the reply to doofus:

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story...our-community/

[mattgrande]

Speaking of neglected, empty lots, does anyone know who owns the lot on the southwest corner of King & Wellington? Are there any plans for that space? It's been empty (not even a parking lot) for as long as I can remember.

[LikeHamilton]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Speaking of neglected, empty lots, does anyone know who owns the lot on the southwest corner of King & Wellington? Are there any plans for that space? It's been empty (not even a parking lot) for as long as I can remember.

I believe it was/is owned by the Denninger's family. They had plans for it but there have been deaths in the family and it is not a priority for them anymore.

[thistleclub]

Via Bloomberg:

Hotel occupancy rates in Ontario rose 3.5 percentage points to 75 percent this year through September, provincial government data show. Rates in downtown Toronto are up 5.3 points to 88 percent.

Average occupancy rate in Hamilton-Brantford for March through August 2014 inclusive was 59.5%, up 0.8% year-over-year over the same period in 2013 — an encouraging trend but still below pre-recessionary performance (ie. 60.0% in 2005, 64.3% in 2006, 64.8% in 2007).

[king10]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Via Bloomberg:

Hotel occupancy rates in Ontario rose 3.5 percentage points to 75 percent this year through September, provincial government data show. Rates in downtown Toronto are up 5.3 points to 88 percent.

Average occupancy rate in Hamilton-Brantford for March through August 2014 inclusive was 59.5%, up 0.8% year-over-year over the same period in 2013 — an encouraging trend but still below pre-recessionary performance (ie. 60.0% in 2005, 64.3% in 2006, 64.8% in 2007).

only 60% occupancy compared to 75% for the province and 88% for toronto.

Id say Toronto needs hotels more than we do.

[King&James]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Via Bloomberg:

Hotel occupancy rates in Ontario rose 3.5 percentage points to 75 percent this year through September, provincial government data show. Rates in downtown Toronto are up 5.3 points to 88 percent.

Average occupancy rate in Hamilton-Brantford for March through August 2014 inclusive was 59.5%, up 0.8% year-over-year over the same period in 2013 — an encouraging trend but still below pre-recessionary performance (ie. 60.0% in 2005, 64.3% in 2006, 64.8% in 2007).

Direct driver of hotel build in city centre is conference bookings on a sustained basis. Hamilton is well positioned, just needs to find the right veins to exploit.

[ScreamingViking]

Hamilton has been in a hotel catch-22 for a long time. Not enough rooms available to draw more/larger events and conferences, not enough events and conferences to make the business case for more hotel rooms.

It doesn't help to have Toronto and Niagara with their large supplies of hotels relatively close by either.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Hamilton has been in a hotel catch-22 for a long time. Not enough rooms available to draw more/larger events and conferences, not enough events and conferences to make the business case for more hotel rooms.

It doesn't help to have Toronto and Niagara with their large supplies of hotels relatively close by either.

Via Independent External Audit Review of HECFI Operations (2011):

“The most significant event shortfall at the Hamilton Convention Centre is in the convention category and the apparent shortfall in space rental and food and beverage pricing, compared with similarly-sized convention centres. We understand the decline in convention activity has resulted from increased convention centre supply in Ontario and the attractiveness of other destinations. In addition, the southern Ontario hotel community is increasingly active in the meetings and convention sector and in many cases offers comparable space available to the Convention Centre (more than a dozen hotels in the greater Toronto/Hamilton/Niagara Falls corridor offer a single ballroom/exhibit space in excess of 10,000 square feet).”

Hamilton Convention Centre offers 52,000 square feet of meeting space. Crowne Plaza/Sheraton Hamilton/Homewood Suites/Staybridge Suites have 50,000 square feet of meeting space between them.

[ScreamingViking]

The convention centre is definitely woefully undersized too, with no prospect of expansion - the lot across MacNab could be utilized with a bridge or build over the transit terminal, but I'd rather see a tower go up there.

It may not be long before a private developer builds a larger exhibition space somewhere in the city. Especially with Careport Centre set to shrink in the near future.

[palace1]

The Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls which opened in 2011 is a certified LEED Silver building with 288,000 sq feet of space and approx. 900 parking spaces.
The $100 million dollar project received $35 million from the federal government and $35 million from the provincial government.
http://www.fallsconventions.com/

In contrast the Hamilton Convention Centre opened in 1981 has rentable rooms listed on their website that only add up to 53,715 sq ft.
http://www.hccevents.ca/


It's not hard to see why conventions would choose Niagara Falls and all of its added attractions over Hamilton.

[hammerton]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

The convention centre is definitely woefully undersized too, with no prospect of expansion - the lot across MacNab could be utilized with a bridge or build over the transit terminal, but I'd rather see a tower go up there.

It may not be long before a private developer builds a larger exhibition space somewhere in the city. Especially with Careport Centre set to shrink in the near future.

What's happening at the Careport?