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

[realcity]

Sell it to Stinson. CityHousing has been sitting on these plans forever.

[LikeHamilton]

This tender closed on Thursday.

Proposal for Prime Consultant Services Required for 95 King Street East Redevelopment

This is the list of Architects that picked up a copy of the proposal. The first 5 are located downtown:-

1. Garwood -Jones & Hanham
2. TCA - Thier & Curran Architects Inc
3. Lintack Architects In.
4. David Premi Architect inc.
5. McCallum Sather Architects Inc.
6. Grguric Architect Incorporated
7. Karp Namisniak Yamamoto Architects Inc.
8. RAW Design
9. Maged Basilious Architect
10. John MacDonald Architect

[SteelTown]

It's moving along, asking for variances.

[thistleclub]

City Housing Hamilton completed the Gore Building around four and a half years ago, and the 1,780 sq ft of ground floor retail has been vacant ever since. Now the hoarding and signage is up and City Housing (via TCA) is undertaking the project next door.

According to CHH documents from 2009, 95 King Street East’s total completion cost was initially pegged at $3,489,500 ($3,724,165 in 2012 CAD), “to create a 10-unit artists live/work development with ground floor commercial.” (The valuation below the TCA render is a more modest $2.9m, marginally less than the $3.5m cited for 118 James North.) Another option on the table at the time was "a true live/work arrangement," meaning 7 larger units rather than 10 residential units fitted with buzzwords.

Although City Housing Hamilton had only seen a year of ground-floor vacancy in the Gore Building at that point, the authors noted: “There is a strong probability of an uneven income stream and initial rent-up and on-going rent-up at unit turnover would be longer recognizing the desired occupancy for artists only.”

They continued: “Upon fiscal stability, CHH will consider either selling the property outright, possibly in tandem with the adjacent “Gore Building”, or securing a mortgage and utilizing the equity for other revitalization development initiatives. Attached as Appendix “B” is an operating cost pro forma that estimates upon full occupancy will generate an annual surplus of approximately $76,400.”

One wonders what the balance sheet for the Gore Building looks like.

[Jon Dalton]

It should be worth noting that about 3 years after this sudden glut of new retail space due to new housing developments, stuff is eventually filling up. Burrito Boyz has made great use of the ground floor of Victoria Hall, Coffee Culture is setting up in the Gore Building and a home decorating store in the Terraces on King.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Coffee Culture is setting up in the Gore Building

Hadn't had a look recently. Any idea when it's slated to open?

[CaptainKirk]

And a coffee shop around the corner in Treble hall?

[drpgq]

Ugh, four and a half years. The city truly is an incompetent landlord.

Isn't coffee culture still looking for a franchisee? Probably the premium rent the city is charging isn't helping. I'll bet the Treble Hall coffee place will open far faster than the Coffee Culture one.

[Pearlstreet]

The city should clean up that Boy's Toys used garbage store across the street. It's the store with used bicycles, broken windows and crap piled up against the glass so high you can't see in. I wouldn't open a business next to that.

[beanmedic]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Hadn't had a look recently. Any idea when it's slated to open?

work on the inside is starting soon.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by Pearlstreet

The city should clean up that Boy's Toys used garbage store across the street. It's the store with used / stolen bicycles, broken windows and crap piled up against the glass so high you can't see in. I wouldn't open a business next to that.

I wanted to change that for you. I had a bike stolen out of my backyard a few years back turn up there.

Underneath that sh*t sign is a decent building, not unlike the one just up the street at John, also covered from head to toe. The City needs to address that sort of signage.

[matt602]

The dollar store a few doors East is also a massive, old warehouse building that sits completely vacant aside from the first floor. A guy who worked there a few years ago gave me and a friend a peak of the upstairs. We boarded one of those really old freight elevators with the metal gate and manual operation to get up there. It's all wooden floors and brick walls, much like the Cannon Knitting Mills. It's been sitting empty for many decades now, complete with covered over massive windows that would look over King Street.

[Pearlstreet]

A bit off topic of 95 King Street, except that the surrounding buildings contribute to the difficulty they have finding tenants. I would love to see the downtown migrate eastward and help the tougher areas just beside the core.

Originally Posted by matt602

The dollar store a few doors East is also a massive, old warehouse building that sits completely vacant aside from the first floor. A guy who worked there a few years ago gave me and a friend a peak of the upstairs. We boarded one of those really old freight elevators with the metal gate and manual operation to get up there. It's all wooden floors and brick walls, much like the Cannon Knitting Mills. It's been sitting empty for many decades now, complete with covered over massive windows that would look over King Street.

Interesting! What a massive waste of space if only using the floor level.

Is that marble under it the metal ugly siding?

I wonder if anyone has pictures of what the once looked like.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

That building is the perfect candidate for renewal. I'd love to see what it looks like with that nasty metal cladding removed. No idea what it was, aside from probably being a warehouse.

[palace1]

I remember it being a Bargain Harold's but the building has painted signs indicating it was once Home Furniture, Established 1908.

A prime candidate for Hamilton's worst facade...

[thistleclub]

$1/sq ft rent* was possibly a factor in filling McKay Building & Victoria Hall. The fact that reno was a private investment (albeit aided by heritage grants) may also have instilled confidence. Either way, hats off to them.

Across the street, one lingering mystery is why it took more than a year to bring Coffee Culture into the fold, given that Obsidian Group was an interested party. Could it really take that long to negotiate an appropriate rate for two-units-as-one?

*$12/sq ft annually

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

$1/sq ft rent was possibly a factor in filling McKay Building & Victoria Hall. The fact that reno was a private investment (albeit aided by heritage grants) may also have instilled confidence. Either way, hats off to them.

That's $12 per square foot

[thistleclub]

From Hamilton strip club to art hub
(Hamilton Spectator, Mark McNeil, Dec 19, 2012)

There's a lot of stripping going on at 95 King St. E.

But unlike some years ago, no one is taking off their clothes.

The stripping these days has more to do with removing and redesigning walls as part of a major renovation.

The address east of John Street was well known in Hamilton for the strip club Maxim's and Bannister's before that.

But the latest owner, CityHousing Hamilton, has much different plans for the building's rebirth in the spring. It will offer living and working space for a dozen artists at a reasonable rent of about $650 per month.

The artists will have their own apartments and communal space as part of the $3.5-million project.

The city-owned housing corporation bought the building in December 2008 and cancelled its adult entertainment licence.

Since then, CityHousing staff have been meeting with the Social Planning and Research Council to map out plans for the project.

CityHousing CEO Brenda Osborne says they are set to go through a request for proposals (RFP) process to find someone to manage the facility.

“It's all part of the city's downtown renewal plan,” said Osborne. “We're trying to revitalize the downtown core.”

“It will certainly add to the vitality of the street. The artistic community is a very engaged bunch,” said Councillor Jason Farr, who is hoping some of artistic renewal of James Street North can be replicated on King Street.

“I think that whole area along King Street is coming along quite nicely.”

Councillor Brian McHattie, who is president of CityHousing Hamilton, says the project has moved slowly because it has taken time to assemble the funding.

But McHattie believes it will be a positive addition to King, expanding the artistic vibrancy of nearby James Street.

Renée Wetselaar, a social planner with the SPRC Hamilton, said: “It's a catalyst space. We have seen the power of what artists have done on James Street North. Certainly, there are a number of artists unable to access space there now. It is starting to get priced out of the market.”

[CaptainKirk]

Good news.

(Too bad it couldn't become a music venue.)

[durandy]

I wonder how they can determine if someone is an artist.