Hamilton The Residences of Royal Connaught | ?m | 23s | Valery Homes | KNYMH

interchange42

interchange42

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Hamilton's venerable Royal Connaught Hotel is getting another lease on life as two prolific Southwestern Ontario residential developers are teaming up to convert the existing building and to add three new condominium towers to the surrounding site. Burlington's KNY Architects are overseeing the design.

The plan is key to Hamilton realizing its Downtown revitalization plans. Two pics for now, more info coming soon.

1) A old postcard of the building;

RoyalConVintage516.jpg



2) The preliminary plan for it, with the first of three towers shown. Final renderings expected in a while:

RoyalConExtEve960.jpg
 
Oh, good. Glad to see someone else is trying after Harry Stinson failed to reboot his career with this property. The new tower is not that impressive, but if it restores the historic buildings' exteriors (and the lobby) than it's overall a gain for Downtown Hamilton.
 
I have much love for the Hammer, this should be a huge boost for its downtown. Nice to see the restoration of this gem.
 
Downtown Hamilton has needed this boost - - - and the revamped hotel itself looks fine, but the tower looks like serious cheese. What's the deal with the concrete/precast/blank whatever it is fin?
 
WiddleBittyKitty said:
Downtown Hamilton has needed this boost - - - and the revamped hotel itself looks fine, but the tower looks like serious cheese. What's the deal with the concrete/precast/blank whatever it is fin?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this, but to be honest, I'm just happy to see development in Hamilton's core. If this tower were proposed in Toronto it would be getting shredded here.
 
Three towers?! That's the first I've heard of that. Any details on the other two?
Register for more info: http://www.royalconnaught.com/

Thanks for posting this btw. It's huge for Hamilton as a whole. More so than the Lister.
If you look at recent Hamilton developments, you'll notice the majority of them line the proposed B-Line LRT route. Just imagine the development the lower city would see once the Ont Libs stop dragging their heels on the project and fund it already!


crappy-quality still from the city's virtual render of Hamilton's B-Line LRT in front of the Royal Connaught (left)

79E9DDD9-EE1D-49D7-B67D-752280A6F60E-4126-00000124E112B28E.jpg


still from this youtube vid
http://youtu.be/JJVa-rSXOSA
 
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they are in no way dragging their heels on it. expect funding in July if they manage to stay in office until then.
 
The tower looks a bit busy in my opinion. It would benefit from a more clean design, which might be a nice contrast with the two restored buildings.

Good to see this is proceeding.
 
innsertnamehere said:
they are in no way dragging their heels on it. expect funding in July if they manage to stay in office until then.
Click to expand...

They promised Hamilton an LRT line in their 2007 Election Campaign. It's now 2013 - No LRT, not even a clear commitment!
The same Liberal govt has stated they will cover 100% of the cost, then changed their minds to 1/3 of the cost, then maybe 3/4 of the cost. Then Min. of Trans. Chiarelli told our Mayor (by accident apparently) that Hamilton will have to pay for our own LRT Line if we want it, all while TO's lines are 100% covered by the Prov./Metrolinx (though I can appreciate future (operational) issues this may cause..

Anyway, we'll see what happens in July. Our Mayor may be a mouth-piece for the Ontario Liberals, but Mayor Hazel isn't and she's screaming foul on Sauga's LRT 'deal' with the province, too!

Either way, the B-Line will be built and it will go directly in front of the Royal Connaught with two stops w/in a 5 min walk in either direction; Win-Win!


gristle said:
The tower looks a bit busy in my opinion. It would benefit from a more clean design, which might be a nice contrast with the two restored buildings.

Good to see this is proceeding.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean! I was hoping for something a little more 'iconic' like maybe a scaled-down version of Stinson's Crystal Pyramid he proposed. I would love a London Shard'esq tower dominating Hamilton's skyline!
 
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I love Hamilton too, good town, great people. They have a beautiful but somewhat rundown downtown that is sadly underused since all the new developments on the mountain really took off. Once regular GO trains are connected to Union station I think that Hamilton has the potential to really take off, residential real estate is so cheap especially downtown. A large 3bed/2bath/2 level PH in the historic Pigott Building downtown (converted to condos in the early 90's) can be had for only $600K.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I love Hamilton too, good town, great people. They have a beautiful but somewhat rundown downtown that is sadly underused since all the new developments on the mountain really took off. Once regular GO trains are connected to Union station I think that Hamilton has the potential to really take off, residential real estate is so cheap especially downtown. A large 3bed/2bath/2 level PH in the historic Pigott Building downtown (converted to condos in the early 90's) can be had for only $600K.
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OH.. there are better deals! Olympia Apartments has two-bed condos for sale for under $150,000. They're good-sized, too, as it was built in the early 70s. The building also has a modern indoor pool, gym & steam room (all reno'd in the last 5 years). Only issue is condo fees, they can go as high as $500/month in that bldg!
However, it's in a great hood steps to St Joe's Hosp. and the current GO (TH&B) Station.
 
The Olympia is a good building, I knew it as a rental before it went condo. The two bedrooms are nice and a steal at $150K but the one bedrooms are very small. Two bedrooms have two side-by-side bathrooms which I thought was odd, and no A/C. I remember a roof deck there too at the top of the building.
 
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