Mount Albion Plaza | 36.5 & 11 m | 2 x 12 fl & 2 x 3 fl | Proposed

[Hawrylyshyn]

Medallion Looking to Redevelopment Mount Albion Plaza with Tall Buildings

"The pocket of East Hamilton tucked into the Red Hill Valley nearest to the escarpment will have two new tall buildings if Medallion Developments gains Council approval for redevelopment of Mount Albion Plaza.

Medallion submitted conceptual plans for two tall buildings to the City of Hamilton’s planning staff. One building be 20 storeys, and the other tall building be 18-storeys. In addition, the redevelopment concept includes two more buildings at nine-storeys each.

The new buildings will have ground level commercial units.

Mount Albion Plaza, on the northwest corner of Mount Albion Road and Greenhill Avenue, is similar to many suburban style strip plazas built during the 1970s with the notable exception of the addition of offices on the second level of the plaza structure. Those offices were converted into residential units in 2010.

Presently, it includes a CIBC branch and a Shoppers Drug Mart as anchor tenants. The 20,400 square foot Foodland grocery store closed in November of 2020. It is unlikely a new grocer will operate in the space, and it is not easily adapted to other uses.

Medallion Developments, a part of the Medallion Corporation, is a significant developer with projects underway across Southern Ontario.

They operate four residential apartment complexes in Hamilton.

City of Hamilton planning staff provided initial comments to the developer in January. Hamilton’s Tall Building Guidelines will be applied to the project and it will be sent to Design Review Panel for comments.

A rezoning will require Council approval as the present “C3” zoning imposes a 14 metre height limit. The City’s growth plan calls for a maximum density of 200 units per hecture outside of the Downtown Secondary Plan.

The site proposes 504 units per hecture.

The conceptual plan envisions 761 proposed units, 60 percent will be one bedroom or smaller. The remaining 40 percent will be two bedroom apartments of various sizes.

Across the street on the southeast corner of the intersection, there is a 12-storey apartment building. Directly to the south of the plaza are two 11-storey condo buildings. Further east on Greenhill Avenue is a nine-storey building.

The City will expect the developer to pay for upgrades to sewer infrastructure to address these concerns.

“Public Works has identified this neighbourhood has a history of sanitary sewer backups and flooded residential basements during heavy rain events. The proposed development represents a large increase in density and sanitary flow relative to existing conditions”, writes Peter Dimitroulias, a development coordinator in Public Works development engineering approvals section. [emphasis in original document]

The site is directly beside the Greenhill Avenue access to the Red Hill Valley Parkway, highway access is sought by many renters and should enable the development to show a manageable traffic impact.

The developer met with City staff in a Formal Consultation meeting. No timelines are yet known in regards to the project. Medallion did not respond to an email request for comment"

[TheRitsman]

These old plazas are a great way to bring density to the suburbs while keeping NIMBYs happy, but they really need to ensure they replace commercial space with a similar or more commercial space.

[Boost the Hammer]

Living next door to this location I have to say its a headscratcher.

The land footprint is actually tiny. The old grocery store and the Shoppers are very small.(the shoppers has to be one of the smallest branches in their system) Then there are 8 other commercial units. So not a big chunk of land by any means. Due to the irregular shape of the lot parking at the west end near the bank is always a mess

Having said all that, a quality build of a tall building close to Mt. Albion and Greenhill, and a smaller build on the west end of the lot would be acceptable.

4 large buildings on that tiny lot is a non starter. Chad Collins email box I am sure will be filling up soon.

As a side note, I always thought that a developer if they had the will and means would be better off buying up all the Harrisford Heights units (121)which would provide a larger piece of land, literally alongside the rhvp and open space surrounding it. No issues. Would be a great spot for a really tall classy building or two.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Here's the image BTW so people don't have to open the article:

[TheRitsman]

I'm assuming this is a small developer? Otherwise what's up with the kids drawing of the development? Is it to seem more friendly and down to earth?

[Boost the Hammer]

Medallion is not exactly "tip top".

From a source who has had contracts to do work with/and for them...the nicest they could say is incredibly cheap and a word that rhymes with yummy.

With Shoppers and CIBC as tenants in the current plaza you would think they would keep the property in presentable shape. New pavement would be a start.

[Berklon]

Yeah, not sure how they're going to fit 4 buildings in there without cramming them all in so close to each other. 2 buildings would work if you set them up in a "L" like configuration.

Gonna miss Greenhill Pizza - they usually have decent pizza (sometimes under-cooked though).

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

I'm assuming this is a small developer? Otherwise what's up with the kids drawing of the development? Is it to seem more friendly and down to earth?

Medallion is a huge developer, they own thousands of rental units across the province.

I lived in one of their buildings in Toronto for a bit. It was very competitively priced for rent. No real quality issues to complain about for the building.. management wasn’t great but most rental offices are rolling disasters from my experience. We managed to hoodwink them a bit to get out of the lease a month early (requested to sublet, they never responded which allowed us to drop our notice from 60 to 30 days), they hated that haha.

The sketch is something architects do to make it look more “preliminary”. It’s a stylistic choice. I can tell that sketch is tracing a computer drawing, the building dimensions are too exact to be a true hand sketch.

The site is larger than it looks. Most suburban strip malls take up more land than people realize.

Agreed on the need to retain commercial here.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The site is larger than it looks. Most suburban strip malls take up more land than people realize.

Agreed on the need to retain commercial here.

To give you an idea of this, the suburban plaza by my parents house at Upper Middle and Brant in Burlington is about the same square footage as 4 downtown city blocks in Hamilton. Sprawl is HUGE. It takes up so much space.

This plaza is about the size of 1.5 - 2 downtown blocks.

[matt602]

I'm definitely a fan of getting rid of the plaza and intensifying the spot but I'm not so sure about a 20 story building there. Doesn't really make a lot of sense given the suburban nature of the surrounding neighborhood (with the foodland gone the nearest grocery store is impossible to get to by walking)

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by matt602

I'm definitely a fan of getting rid of the plaza and intensifying the spot but I'm not so sure about a 20 story building there. Doesn't really make a lot of sense given the suburban nature of the surrounding neighborhood (with the foodland gone the nearest grocery store is impossible to get to by walking)

I'm not sure it's a good fit either, at that height; I don't mind the density so much, however. Something closer in size to the other apartment buildings in the area would be fine, in my opinion: 12-15 storeys max, with larger floorplates. It will probably get a rough ride at 20 and 18 floors. Hopefully there is to be more retail in the podium too, to replace what will be lost in the plaza.

I worked at that grocery store way back when it was a Fortinos. Awesome part-time job to have through high school and early years of university, within walking distance of the house we lived in. It was a busy store too, especially Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday was very hectic. I visited the Foodland a couple times and found it depressing... perhaps it had its busy periods though. The demographics of the surrounding neighbourhoods have shifted and there are likely fewer young families today than there were in the 1970s to '90s but people having to venture out to Rosedale or Queenston/Nash and Eastgate to get food locally isn't ideal.

[atnor]

There are apartments on the south side of the intersection. This will fit in just fine.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I visited the Foodland a couple times and found it depressing... perhaps it had its busy periods though.

I've been there about 10+ times - usually on weekends, and it was dead every time.
My aunt/uncle live close to it and only go there when they need the odd item and they tell me it's never busy. Even though it's close by, they'll go to grocery stores further away because of the selection and specials.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Berklon

I've been there about 10+ times - usually on weekends, and it was dead every time.
My aunt/uncle live close to it and only go there when they need the odd item and they tell me it's never busy. Even though it's close by, they'll go to grocery stores further away because of the selection and specials.

My mom still liked to shop there sometimes when it was D'Alessio's. I don't think I ever went in there under that banner.

I thought it was very poorly laid out as a Foodland, looked very aged too, and the produce section was terrible. Sobeys probably didn't want to invest in any upgrades knowing it was going to be closed. I figured Shoppers might take over that space or a big chunk of it.

[Boost the Hammer]

So if you needed any reason to oppose anything Medallion proposes look no further than the plight of the residents at 235 Rebecca.

It is bordering on criminal negligence the way the residents in this covid ravaged building are being treated by Medallion.

Good article on Global about this.

Any residents from 235 who may read this, Medallion is owned by the Bleeham family. Doubt they cancel repairs in their estates .

Medallion....pls sell and leave town, Hamilton doesnt want you!!

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by Boost the Hammer

So if you needed any reason to oppose anything Medallion proposes look no further than the plight of the residents at 235 Rebecca.

It is bordering on criminal negligence the way the residents in this covid ravaged building are being treated by Medallion.

Good article on Global about this.

Any residents from 235 who may read this, Medallion is owned by the Bleeham family. Doubt they cancel repairs in their estates .

Medallion....pls sell and leave town, Hamilton doesnt want you!!

Since when are landlords responsible for the health of it tenants other than the usual pests that inhabit buildings. It's not their fault people are getting sick.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Since when are landlords responsible for the health of it tenants other than the usual pests that inhabit buildings. It's not their fault people are getting sick.

Landlords in these buildings are responsible for both of the reasons that this could have been caused by. Bad ventilation? Landlord responsibility. Public area regulating of masks? Landlord responsibility.

This is the landlords fault plain and simple.

[davidcappi]

Saying this is purely the landlords fault is kind of preposterous.

Windows bolted shut in the halls? Fire code says they aren't allowed to be open - take that up with the city and OBC

Front line works unable to isolate because they don't get sick days? - take that up with the province

You can mandate masks and post notices, supply hand sanitizer, the works. You can't enforce usage of these things.

Yeah, they should fix the elevators, but in their defence there are like three factories in the world that make elevator parts and when you need one, you go on a big list, and once its your turn the part usually has to get shipped here from overseas (my old building had to import a motor from Germany and it took 4 months to arrive literally on a boat)

This isn't a landlord issue - its a massive collection of systematic failures at like, every level of government that have resulted in a lot of working class people getting sick.

[Boost the Hammer]

Facts matter

Medallion is a POS landlord.

235 Rebecca
135 Wellington S

go see for yourself. When you scale back cleaning, dont fix elevators (in a highrise) etc thats pretty much wanton reckless and disregard for peoples safety.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

Landlords in these buildings are responsible for both of the reasons that this could have been caused by. Bad ventilation? Landlord responsibility. Public area regulating of masks? Landlord responsibility.

This is the landlords fault plain and simple.

That is ridiculous. People who live in apartments are responsible for their own health not the owners of the buildings. Why is it people today think it's everyone else's fault but their own. Building owners should never be responsible for policing peoples use of masks, that is a job for public authorities.