Hamilton 77 James Street North | ?m | 30s | Harlo | srm Architects

innsertnamehere

innsertnamehere

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posted in the latest NRU

77 james north.png
 
Quite a bit of info in this article from last year in July 2020, but can't find much new updates afterwards:

Four Tall Buildings Proposed for Hamilton City Centre at 77 James Street North

If it happens, the estimated $700-million redevelopment of the Hamilton City Centre site will be the largest Downtown Hamilton construction project in 30 years.
www.thepublicrecord.ca www.thepublicrecord.ca


It's also listed on IN8 Development's website, but seems to currently go to a dead link:

Projects – IN8 Developments

in8developments.ca in8developments.ca
 
it directs to the current mall website which is indeed live, but is behind an unsafe webpage warning. No info about the redevelopment on the site.
 
Looking good... I like the red brick. Getting a bit of a Distillery District vibe from these renders. Love those curvilinear composite wood beams and columns.
 
Partner I believe.

This proposal has from what I remember around 1,900 units in it, so it's huge even by Toronto standards. That would mean about 3,500 people living in it, which is about 10% of downtown Hamilton's entire population today.
 
The funny thing is, the current building on site isnt really the greatest. But the filth that's set to replace it is somehow much worse.

I mean of course we're not going to get a Well type development in Hamilton, but this is right in the heart of downtown and this is what we're seeing...
 
Amare said:
The funny thing is, the current building on site isnt really the greatest. But the filth that's set to replace it is somehow much worse.

I mean of course we're not going to get a Well type development in Hamilton, but this is right in the heart of downtown and this is what we're seeing...
Click to expand...
The frustrating part, to me at least, is that the City appears to have no interest in addressing (and planning the future of) the overall Jackson Square block in a proper, fulsome manner, despite the challenges and opportunities that are within.

You have a massive chunk of the block now imminently under redevelopment, that is being planned as if the surrounding mall will never change. You have an arena that is going to undergo renovations of some sort at the other end of the block, also being planned as if no change will come to the rest of the block. Now you have some 'visioning' exercise for the Hamilton Famers' Market, that again, is being done in isolation.

I consider this to be ludicrous and a disservice. From a pure taxpayer point of view, we have City-owned land that is quickly being encumbered by the surrounding projects, and losing potential. From a downtown/urban point of view, there is a historic black mark in the middle of our core, that we are *closer than ever* to being able to correct, but that we are not only not pursuing, but actively ceding the possibility of doing so in the future.

In my view, we have one shot at getting this right. You can tear down a 85% dead mall very easily, but you will never be able to pull down four towers with well over 1000 condo units in them. We are absolutely failing to recognize this, and we're running out of time to maximize the future potential of this land. From my point of view, we need nothing less than an immediate pause on the ongoing projects on the block, in order to bring all the relevant parties together to build a proper long-term (20 to 30 year total) redevelopment plan that recognizes change is imminent at the HCC portion and at the arena, but works to shape those projects towards forms that don't compromise the potential of the rest of the JS block.

This is the one property in the downtown that we absolutely, fundamentally, cannot afford to mess up... and yet we don't seem to care.
 
Lachlan Holmes said:
The frustrating part, to me at least, is that the City appears to have no interest in addressing (and planning the future of) the overall Jackson Square block in a proper, fulsome manner, despite the challenges and opportunities that are within.

You have a massive chunk of the block now imminently under redevelopment, that is being planned as if the surrounding mall will never change. You have an arena that is going to undergo renovations of some sort at the other end of the block, also being planned as if no change will come to the rest of the block. Now you have some 'visioning' exercise for the Hamilton Famers' Market, that again, is being done in isolation.

I consider this to be ludicrous and a disservice. From a pure taxpayer point of view, we have City-owned land that is quickly being encumbered by the surrounding projects, and losing potential. From a downtown/urban point of view, there is a historic black mark in the middle of our core, that we are *closer than ever* to being able to correct, but that we are not only not pursuing, but actively ceding the possibility of doing so in the future.

In my view, we have one shot at getting this right. You can tear down a 85% dead mall very easily, but you will never be able to pull down four towers with well over 1000 condo units in them. We are absolutely failing to recognize this, and we're running out of time to maximize the future potential of this land. From my point of view, we need nothing less than an immediate pause on the ongoing projects on the block, in order to bring all the relevant parties together to build a proper long-term (20 to 30 year total) redevelopment plan that recognizes change is imminent at the HCC portion and at the arena, but works to shape those projects towards forms that don't compromise the potential of the rest of the JS block.

This is the one property in the downtown that we absolutely, fundamentally, cannot afford to mess up... and yet we don't seem to care.
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more with this.

The city unveiled plans for a master development involving First Ontario Centre, First Ontario Concert Hall, and the Hamilton Convention Centre which is a massive step in the right direction. They even didn't select Vranich Group to be a part of it which is also another massive step in the right direction.

One of the issues with Jackson Square is that it isnt owned by the city, which limits what they can do with it. It's the owners of the mall that have the final say, but that doesnt mean the city couldnt come up with some sort of vision for the entire immediate area. As it currently stand now, Jackson Square is just a hacked up mess and this development wont make things better whatsoever.

The whole mall really needs to undergo a massive renovation, but unfortunately it seems like there's no plans for that. The only way I see the mall getting renovated or partially redeveloped is when there are more developments that come online in the surrounding area that force the owners to put more dollars into the mall. The fact that people have to go to Limeridge just to do a lot of shopping is pathetic.
 
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