It is good to see, with reservations, that they have resolved the building on this long open lot. I went to the site last night in the dark and tried to visualize the building with my phone.
I have stared at the renders a couple of times now, and someone else will have to comment on the architectural merits to the building. I know some of the locals will, and have grumped about the height, and I would to some extent as well, except that the setback on the upper stories appears to lesson the mass hanging over the street, and I think it looks not so bad I am sure the community to the south is not going to be happy about balconies hanging over their backyards some 30 meters in the air. However, no specific public comments were received at the general meeting that I heard so perhaps Oakville is not as NIMBY as some would suggest (although from experience and from the former and current fights over historical designation, that comment may be a stretch! Not so sure about some of my neighbours these days). I have not quite figured out the setbacks from Lakeshore, however on the drawings they appear skimpy and that is a concern.
Car lovers will drool over the proposed 183 parking spots...really? But those are the current zoning requirements and the developer seems happy to not contest those requirements. Bicycle storage will be set at 154 units, which well exceeds the requirement of 30 spaces
My beef is the fate of the historical building on site. And not necessarily with the proposed remediation and honoring of what was. But with the ability of the succession of developers to allow the historical property to fall into such a state of disrepair that anyone looking at the building would have no inkling of what was. (The attached Heritage Impact Report gives details of what was, what is, and what can be). This building was designated many years ago, and to the developers credit (maybe?) some efforts were made to save exterior details and shore up deteriorating structure. But there is no teeth to the act that forces a purchaser to actively and ongoingly, preserve, remediate, fix and repair the exterior envelope of any building. And I have watched this building deteriorate over the years with the very minimal efforts made at any preservation. And now we are left with nothing. And this happens far too often in Halton, there are some prime current examples in Palermo. and certainly in other areas of Ontario as well (Cabbage town fires?)
The report does reference two other building across the street - 31 Lakeshore and 37 Lakeshore. 31 Lakeshore is the home of Tradition de France, something we referenced on a previous thread about a site in on 115 Trafalgar in Oakville. Highly recommended. Worth a ride on the GO along with your bike.
And 37 Lakeshore is just one of those buildings that must be retained.
It will be interesting to see the impact of this decision in the Kerr Village area - there are two corners at Lakeshore and Kerr, there are a number of one story retail plazas just to the west of Kerr, and to the east of this building towards the river And then Kerr Village itself.
