Lime Ridge Mall

[NortheastWind]

Originally Posted by King&James

The whole south end parking lots at CF LR would be a great spot for high density housing. think they mostly serve as a place to pile snow. Incorporate the old gas station, MacDonalds sites, and part of Limeridge Road splitting them from mall parking lot, could be very compelling for returns.

Vehicle traffic exiting the mall onto Upper Wentworth is crazy as it is.

[realcity]

It's funny what Hamilton drivers think is crazy traffic. just saying. Upper Wentworth to the Link. do you have 5 minutes. ?

Uhm Pier 8 and James and Bay streets. think that won't be crazy unless Pier 8 is all self sustainable. I don't think everyone can jam down those skinny streets. Canada Day Fireworks??

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Lime Ridge Mall proposes massive makeover

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8...sive-makeover/

It's one of the most ambitious makeovers at a Hamilton mall in quite some time.

Cadillac Fairview has submitted an application to the city's planning department that calls for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Cadillac Fairview Lime Ridge Mall, on Upper Wentworth, that includes 12 new buildings and nearly 200,000 square feet of new retail and commercial space.

The application was submitted on April 17.

According to the application, the former two-storey Sears department store on the north side of the mall will be torn down.

It will be replaced by more than 60,000 square feet of new retail space split between three units on two floors.

The plan also calls for five new restaurant buildings ranging in size from 6,000 to 7,500 square feet.

Three of those buildings are slated to go up on the west side of the mall facing Upper Wentworth.

The two other restaurants will be located on the top floor of a proposed 500-vehicle, two-storey parking garage that will go up next to the two-storey building on the former Sears section, and the plans call for both eateries to have outdoor patios.

In addition, Cadillac Fairview is looking to add another two-storey building with more than 65,000 square feet of retail space over three units next to the office building, which is currently home to radio stations K-Lite and TSN 1150.

There is no word on when the project might move forward.

City planner Melanie Schneider said the application has been put on hold pending more information from Cadillac Fairview.

Meanwhile, the company is not offering any more details on the proposal.

"At this time we are not able to comment any further," said Cadillac Fairview spokesperson Anna Ng.

I'm all for the improvements CF is doing for Lime Ridge and this is definitely something positive for our only legitimate shopping mall. I worked on the expansion and redevelopment of Sherway Gardens about five or six years ago, this seems to be in the same vein; albeit on a slightly smaller scale than Sherway. It should be interesting to see which new retailers and restaurants they attract if and when this gets approved.

A good restaurant or two would be great at Lime Ridge. It would keep in the tradition with what CF has done at most of their other malls.

I do wonder if this sizeable investment at Lime Ridge is any indicator of CF venturing Downtown at some point in the future. An urbanized mall would be amazing in the Downtown Core and I think CF is the right group to make that happen. One can hope!

[NortheastWind]

There's the site plan on Joey Coleman's For the Record site, as posted in April.

[hamilton23]

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...-it-worth-it-/

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9...-it-worth-it-/

Only in Hamilton would building a suburban hockey arena be a serious discussion... I mean, it may speed up the A-line transformation to rapid transit... smh

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

Only in Hamilton would building a suburban hockey arena be a serious discussion... I mean, it may speed up the A-line transformation to rapid transit... smh

City Hall is a disaster and this is one example.

For decades, the idea was to try and move more businesses Downtown. Does FirstOntario need significant renovations? Yeah, but that's an old story and shouldn't be a shock to the City.

I wouldn't be shocked if the City had a deal with CF on a new arena on the Limeridge grounds for a while now. This sounds all too convenient.

If we lose FirstOntario completely, it would be a blow to Downtown and another step in the wrong direction by the City.

Opening an arena is suburbia is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done.

[thistleclub]

So, parking.

The team is drawing around 4,000 fans per game, and a lot of those folks are driving in. It's relatively easy to drive to within a block of the arena and find a spot; the four largest lots in that radius can hold 3,000 vehicles, all paid.

There are 4,500-5,000 parking spots at Lime Ridge Mall.

One assumes that CF isn't converting those to a paid lot, so unless you imagine that the arena owners are also building an underground parking lot three times the capacity of Jackson Square's sub-grade garage, there would be an inherent tension between the hockey club and the owner of the parking lot that serves the mall. Especially since the team's home games are almost exclusively held on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, when the mall is likely busiest.

[SteelTown]

Apparently, they are building a parking garage where the vacant Sears is located.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Apparently, they are building a parking garage where the vacant Sears is located.

Ah, yes. I missed the Public Record link.

[Cadillac Fairview's] proposal is to demolish the existing structure which housed Sears, and to construct a new two storey anchor to the indoor mall, one restaurant addition attached to the shopping centre, two standalone restaurants in front of the new anchor, and two restaurants at the front of a two-storey 494 parking stall parkade structure.

The parkade will be connected to the mall by a pedestrian bridge, and the parkade’s two restaurants will feature rooftop patios.

Hamilton Spectator, May 4 2018:

Cadillac Fairview has submitted an application to the city's planning department that calls for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Cadillac Fairview Lime Ridge Mall, on Upper Wentworth, that includes 12 new buildings and nearly 200,000 square feet of new retail and commercial space.

The application was submitted on April 17.

According to the application, the former two-storey Sears department store on the north side of the mall will be torn down.

It will be replaced by more than 60,000 square feet of new retail space split between three units on two floors.

The plan also calls for five new restaurant buildings ranging in size from 6,000 to 7,500 square feet.

This would create more onsite retail capacity and offer mall clientele more convenient access to parking, though the proposed parkade would be built atop existing surface parking and offset parking loss linked to the construction of the new two-storey building, so the net gain is a little muted.

First Ontario Centre occupies a footprint roughly 15K square meters (161K square feet), about the same size as the parking lot at the Mall Road Fortinos. (Or, if you prefer, the combined area of the former Sears and the space where the parkade has been proposed.)

ETA: I love that the CF spokesperson is named Anna Ng.

[StEC]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

Only in Hamilton would building a suburban hockey arena be a serious discussion... I mean, it may speed up the A-line transformation to rapid transit... smh

There is a very SERIOUS PROBLEM with building a smaller OHL size arena at the Limeridge Mall that I hope the politicians realize.... Copps Coliseum (Yes it will always be Copps to me lol) is an NHL size which attracts major concerts and those concerts attract capacity crowds that fill all the hotel rooms old & new in our downtown core and those people support the mom & pop restaurants and shops in the core.

If they build an OHL size arena at Limeridge we'd be looking at a capacity of about 4-5000 we can kiss goodbye all the A list concerts the city currently attracts which pumps 100's of millions of dollars into the city! Hamilton is the only city in North America where acts such as Garth Brooks, Britney Spears & BTS do 3 or 4 sold out shows in a row! We'd lose all this. And the smaller acts that would perform at Limeridge then have no hotels near by for those guests that may want to stay the night or the mom and pop businesses to support just the corporate stores of the mall.

It would be the dumbest decisions EVER in a long list of dumb decisions made in this city!

I realize Copps needs some serious repairs and updating but it's worth every penny to make that investment which will pay for itself in no time!

[lachlanholmes]

"Hamilton Bulldogs owners Michael Andlauer suggests building a new arena — maybe at Lime Ridge Mall — would be a better use of taxpayer cash."

The best use of taxpayer cash is getting out of the arena business.

Sam Merulla is on to something with selling off the arena and redeveloping it into a mixed use complex. Ideally, sell it off with the provision that the redevelopment include an arena of the same size, include some form of housing on top, and street level commercial. No more suburban arena nonsense and definitely not on the taxpayer dollar.

[king10]

Originally Posted by StEC

There is a very SERIOUS PROBLEM with building a smaller OHL size arena at the Limeridge Mall that I hope the politicians realize.... Copps Coliseum (Yes it will always be Copps to me lol) is an NHL size which attracts major concerts and those concerts attract capacity crowds that fill all the hotel rooms old & new in our downtown core and those people support the mom & pop restaurants and shops in the core.

If they build an OHL size arena at Limeridge we'd be looking at a capacity of about 4-5000 we can kiss goodbye all the A list concerts the city currently attracts which pumps 100's of millions of dollars into the city! Hamilton is the only city in North America where acts such as Garth Brooks, Britney Spears & BTS do 3 or 4 sold out shows in a row! We'd lose all this. And the smaller acts that would perform at Limeridge then have no hotels near by for those guests that may want to stay the night or the mom and pop businesses to support just the corporate stores of the mall.

It would be the dumbest decisions EVER in a long list of dumb decisions made in this city!

I realize Copps needs some serious repairs and updating but it's worth every penny to make that investment which will pay for itself in no time!

There is no way sinking $100m into FOC would “pay for itself in no time”. Its barely paid for itself since it was built. Also i doubt theyre looking at 4 to 5k. If anything it would be around 10k similar to what was built in Laval. Idealy we get a 10 to 12k rink(paid for mostly by the private sector) somewhere dowtown. Im not crazy about the limeridge mall idea, though i do hear the whole area is to be redeveloped with condos part of the picture.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by king10

There is no way sinking $100m into FOC would “pay for itself in no time”. Its barely paid for itself since it was built. Also i doubt theyre looking at 4 to 5k. If anything it would be around 10k similar to what was built in Laval. Idealy we get a 10 to 12k rink(paid for mostly by the private sector) somewhere dowtown. Im not crazy about the limeridge mall idea, though i do hear the whole area is to be redeveloped with condos part of the picture.

Even then, let's see:

- Tons of food, bars, and clubs for after and before events (growing slowly too)

- Close to regional transit (Go train, Go Bus, and these are going to be growing, and as parking is built on, the use of these modes of transportation will likely become more viable, especially for people coming from Oakville, Mississauga or St Catherine's)

- Lots of people who live with close proximity who take transit to, bike to, walk to these events

- The mountain's infrastructure cannot handle the number of people that will be making there way to these events

- A big stadium up there is going to piss off literally every resident as loud people, cars, and things become a regular thing

- Huge stadium multiple storeys tall in the middle of a parking lot in a suburban area almost never happens because it is a terrible idea (COUGH TIM HORTONS STADIUM COUGH)

- Even if it is 10k, Copps is sold out pretty regularly, it is one of the largest arenas in North America, and is close to the Hamilton Convention Centre, Hamilton place and potential future entertainment district

- Arena at Limeridge assumes Hamilton will essentially be the same now as a snapshot in 30 years time, which it won't be

I'm doubtful it will go through, just because of how clearly stupid it is, mind you I wouldn't put it past this idiotic city to think they're somehow different than hundreds of cities around the globe in how they do design of a city.

[matt602]

Although I'd like to see an arena stay downtown, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of it being at Limeridge. It has good bus access and the city is already planning quite a bit of intensification along that corridor. A third express bus route along Upper Wentworth could already exist with the passenger volumes on the 25/26 bus and other buses serving the mall so a hockey arena could only help that while expediting a case for a future North South LRT along Upper James (only a short jaunt West from the mall).

I mean this would be an OHL sized arena after all, similar in size to the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines (or maybe the JLC/Budweiser/beercompanyarena in London if they go bigger). If Hamilton chooses to keep chasing that NHL dream, a much bigger arena could always happen downtown.

[king10]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

Even then, let's see:

- Tons of food, bars, and clubs for after and before events (growing slowly too)

- Close to regional transit (Go train, Go Bus, and these are going to be growing, and as parking is built on, the use of these modes of transportation will likely become more viable, especially for people coming from Oakville, Mississauga or St Catherine's)

- Lots of people who live with close proximity who take transit to, bike to, walk to these events

- The mountain's infrastructure cannot handle the number of people that will be making there way to these events

- A big stadium up there is going to piss off literally every resident as loud people, cars, and things become a regular thing

- Huge stadium multiple storeys tall in the middle of a parking lot in a suburban area almost never happens because it is a terrible idea (COUGH TIM HORTONS STADIUM COUGH)

- Even if it is 10k, Copps is sold out pretty regularly, it is one of the largest arenas in North America, and is close to the Hamilton Convention Centre, Hamilton place and potential future entertainment district

- Arena at Limeridge assumes Hamilton will essentially be the same now as a snapshot in 30 years time, which it won't be

I'm doubtful it will go through, just because of how clearly stupid it is, mind you I wouldn't put it past this idiotic city to think they're somehow different than hundreds of cities around the globe in how they do design of a city.

What is your definition of "sold out regularly" ? I don't consider a dozen events a year of 17,000 seats as sold out regularly.

The potential future entertainment district hinges on where the new arena is built. If it isn't downtown, I don't think the future entertainment district will materialize as planned.

I'd prefer the arena stay downtown, but if the private sector is going to pay for over 50% of the arena, we should hear what they have to say, especially if they are willing to take on operating costs. The capital construction and maintenance of such an arena is a money losing business for tax payers. The Global Spectrum deal barely breaks even and the City is still forced to sink millions a year on band aid capital repairs at FOC.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by king10

What is your definition of "sold out regularly" ? I don't consider a dozen events a year of 17,000 seats as sold out regularly.

The potential future entertainment district hinges on where the new arena is built. If it isn't downtown, I don't think the future entertainment district will materialize as planned.

I'd prefer the arena stay downtown, but if the private sector is going to pay for over 50% of the arena, we should hear what they have to say, especially if they are willing to take on operating costs. The capital construction and maintenance of such an arena is a money losing business for tax payers. The Global Spectrum deal barely breaks even and the City is still forced to sink millions a year on band aid capital repairs at FOC.

Considering Toronto is a 45 minute drive filling the entire stadium once a month isn't bad imo.

[StEC]

Originally Posted by king10

What is your definition of "sold out regularly" ? I don't consider a dozen events a year of 17,000 seats as sold out regularly.

Copps is the 59th Busiest Arena in the entire world! - https://trueresident.com/city/2018/0...-in-the-world/

Copps is the 4th busiest venue in Canada and climbing - http://www.coreentertainment.ca/news...r-ranking-2018

The city better keep it where it is whether it's rebuilt or overhauled we got a golden goose on our hands to move it and make it smaller is asinine!

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Honestly ....the city screwed up tims field and we can't let that happen again .... Copps is amazing for Hamilton and should be revitalized and improved if not torn down and rebuilt .... Putting it up at limeridge would be soo stupid ... The amount of people it draws is ideal for downtown ... Why is Hamilton always thinking smaller and more removed ?!?!? Time to get the city councillors heads out of their asses .... It's almost as if there are outside voices chirping in their ears on how to keep Hamilton down and out

[thistleclub]

A third express bus route along Upper Wentworth could already exist with the passenger volumes on the 25/26 bus and other buses serving the mall so a hockey arena could only help that while expediting a case for a future North South LRT along Upper James (only a short jaunt West from the mall)

A "30 Express" run along Upper Wentworth would presumably travel node-to-node, or between Lime Ridge Mall and the MacNab Transit Terminal. The 26 barely overlaps with that at all, so the ridership synergy is unclear. But there are trade-offs: No express bus service in the city runs after 7:45pm, and none on weekends, when around half of the Bulldogs' home games occur.

Synergies with higher-order transit are also fuzzy. Upper Wentworth is 1.7km east of Upper James, a 23-minute walk. Upper Wellington is about half that. If anything, building a successful 30 Express route would rationalize moving BRT/LRT from Upper James to Upper Wentworth. It's also worth noting that it was Metrolinx that made the 20 Express a reality, not council or the HSR. The main thing that would help expedite transit improvements would be a council that is prepared to champion and invest in transit, and insist on sustainable development.