Cobalt Luxury Residences On King | 97.5 & 97.5m | 2 x 30 fl | Under Construction

[king10]

Hope this tower rents well. Over 300 students living on James Street would be great for the stores and restaurants.

The rents seem reasonable as well as renting a room in a house by Mac will range in the $500 to $600 range

[Bubba9000]

Parking lot off King William is now closed. Was used by film crew earlier this week, but now fully taped off. Nice to see an announcement followed up with action in less than a decade.

Hope the lot attendant had another job lined up.

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by Bubba9000

Parking lot off King William is now closed. Was used by film crew earlier this week, but now fully taped off. Nice to see an announcement followed up with action in less than a decade.

Hope the lot attendant had another job lined up.

Heard Murph got his teeth fixed and a year of severance.

[SteelTown]

From today's Heritage committee some of the plans was revealed. They want to demo the site (was built in 1930) and erect two towers, 25 and 34 storeys.

[thomax]

I'm excited to see something that tall get built on the north side of King, 100 King Street West has always looked really lonely to me.

[SteelTown]

I think I heard the proposal will go to council January 17th, 2017.

[SteelTown]

Owner of former Kresge store wants to demolish landmark Hamilton building

Stoney Creek News
By Kevin Werner
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/70...lton-building/

The owner of one of Hamilton’s landmark downtown buildings has applied for a demolition permit.

The Frisina Group applied to Hamilton’s building department Dec. 8 to demolish the former Kresge building located on the northeast corner of King Street East and Hughson Street North across from Gore Park.

“We need to be pro-active on this,” said Hamilton heritage committee member Kathleen Garay at the Dec. 15 meeting. “We need to raise the flag.”

Other committee members took a more cautious approach to the demolition application, saying they didn’t want to react in a knee-jerk fashion.


“If we think it should be designated, we should say so,” said Heritage committee member Ron Sinclair.

But the committee had little information on the heritage value of the building, which was constructed in 1930, to make a proper decision.

The heritage committee is a citizen advisory group, but its recommendations are not binding on politicians.

Stoney Creek Councillor Maria Pearson, who will be chairing the city’s planning committee starting in January, said there has to be a heritage value for the committee to designate the building and for politicians to consider the request.

“What is the big sell?” she said. “You need a designated feature.”

The designation application by the owners kicks off a 60-day period that will expire Feb. 5, 2017, after which Hamilton will have to issue a demolition permit.

The heritage committee agreed to receive further information on the building at their Jan. 19 meeting. Any recommendation from the committee could be sent directly to the Jan. 25 council meeting, which would still meet the Feb. 5 deadline.

The owner of the building has proposed to construct a $50-million, mixed-used development that includes ground-floor commercial and 655 residential units above the sixth floor. The development will include two towers with maximum heights of 25 and 34 storeys. The building would be built on a podium that ranges from three to six storeys. There would be 442 parking spaces.

The King Street location of the former Kresge building was the 22nd store to open in Canada. At the time it was the largest single-floor variety store in the country.

It had a restaurant and lunch counter, and a bakery operation.

The store expanded in 1948 to King William Street.

In 1977 the company changed its name to Kmart and the store was closed in 1994. In 1998 the building housed Delta Bingo, when it closed in 2014.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

That sort of scale seems ridiculous - 600 units and 400 parking spaces? And apparently they're not interested in using the existing building in any way shape or form. Can't see any reason to support this proposal, frankly.

[davidcappi]

This building isn't anything special, a lot of the historic features have been removed over the years, and the inside was totally gutted and repurposed over the years so it shows little value in terms of the interiors. As far as the facade goes, the only stand out features I see are the yellow bricks, but all of the decorative stonework has been removed, and the back sections of the building would need serious altering as they stand to accommodate any future use.

I like the idea of the 3 to 6 storey podium with height on top, though I'lll need to see the proposed design before I make a final decision.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^I'll tell ya something right now - whatever they replace it with will be 100 times worse than what's there now; there's still a lot to like about the old Kresge building.

There must come a point where buildings are properly protected. If Frisina can't make it work, then I'm sure somebody else can. And there's just no argument for buildings of that scale unless we're strictly talking dollars and cents.

[davidcappi]

Developer is liuna not frinisa. And for many this was only ever the delta bingo building, so again, let's try not to be too negative before we even see the proposal.

[matt602]

Originally Posted by davidcappi

Developer is liuna not frinisa. And for many this was only ever the delta bingo building, so again, let's try not to be too negative before we even see the proposal.

The spectator article above says it's Frisina.

[SteelTown]

It's a partnership between Frisina, LIUNA and Hi Rise.

LIUNA and Hi-Rise probably made a deal to let Frisina take all the heat and do all the City Hall business to get the plan approved.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

It's a partnership between Frisina, LIUNA and Hi Rise.

LIUNA and Hi-Rise probably made a deal to let Frisina take all the heat and do all the City Hall business to get the plan approved.

The Spec reported in September that LIUNA was building on the derelict building site. Hope it starts up quickly.

[eatboots]

LiUNA don't mess around, this thing is probably going to start as William Thomas is finishing up, so soon.

[davidcappi]

My mistake; I'm just anxious to see what the proposed building looks like.

[drpgq]

How is the parking lot behind on King William going to be incorporated in this project? Is one of the towers going there?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by drpgq

How is the parking lot behind on King William going to be incorporated in this project? Is one of the towers going there?

There's no lot directly behind this, just the addition. But there is a small lot abutting King William mid-block, in the centre of the "U"

It would be nice if that lot could be filled in, or at least filled in to the sidewalk as a front for the entry to parking for this proposed complex and alley serviceways for the back of the other buildings on King and John.

Re: heritage value of this property, while I'm usually loathe to see a nice old building sacrificed (especially given all the open lots downtown) I really don't feel like this one is worth saving.

[drpgq]

That's the lot I meant. It is owned by the same group and being used as basically a staging area.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by drpgq

How is the parking lot behind on King William going to be incorporated in this project? Is one of the towers going there?