[innsertnamehere]

The architecture is bland AF but from an urbanism perspective I don't find it *terrible*.

The units here are absolutely tiny though. It's overwhelmingly mostly studios and 1-beds.

 

[Chronamut]

This is pretty much the city's focal point. Hamilton needs some kind of miracle money to create a centrepiece attraction here. Some kind of retail or service or tourist thing or something. Not a bunch of horrible condos.

The good/bad news is that it is super unlikely that the crappy condos will be started any time soon.

It's the location - this is the literal heart of the city - you can't get more "heart" than this. - if this goes through it will just set a horrible precedent. It just feels like every new build built on this spot has become progressively crappier and crappier in style - from the city hall to eatons to the city center to now this.

Although, I will give the city center credit - the place was always bathed in light and all those arches lit up around christmas is something that has forever been etched into my mind as one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in this city.

sadly this is the only image of it I could find - with missing lights here and there, but in its heyday it was beautiful.

Going through this part of the mall always evoked a sense of sadness for me as I remember as a kid how lively it used to be.

That glass block walkway always freaked me out..

 

[Chronamut]

For all of your hopes about IN8 abandoning this it's NOT going to happen they have surprisingly deep pockets and good luck on it getting a different design, sure it could have but its slim to none knowing IN8.

It will either turn out like the render or become worse (yes its possible). For some context IN8 started off building student housing in Waterloo when the Northdale building boom happened around UW and Laurier, they built all of the Sage buildings (II, III, V, VI, X, Platinum I and Platinum II) which started off okay but when IN8 switched to using spandrel over mostly brick it started to fall apart. The saving grace is they are still some of the better looking Northdale buildings so you don't notice how bad they are when you're around them but you wouldn't want 4 towers of it.

IN8 eventually decided to focus on condos which is where the designs went off the rails, the first building they did was Duke Tower in Kitchener which for those of you who haven't looked at it has the podium of nightmares and the tower isn't much better (spandrel and precast concrete). It makes Kirkor's Station Park A and B (Union Towers) look amazing which most people on here wouldn't necessarily agree with. Now they're doing TEK Tower which seems to be turning out good but there's still time for IN8 to make it worse.

The renders for this are awfully similar to the very early stage Duke Tower renders so do not be surprised if this becomes a spandrel mess.

My only hope is the city looks at it and tells them to come back with a better design. They have a hearing in january, right?

 

[BCTed]

It's the location - this is the literal heart of the city - you can't get more "heart" than this. - if this goes through it will just set a horrible precedent. It just feels like every new build built on this spot has become progressively crappier and crappier in style - from the city hall to eatons to the city center to now this.

Although, I will give the city center credit - the place was always bathed in light and all those arches lit up around christmas is something that has forever been etched into my mind as one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in this city.

sadly this is the only image of it I could find - with missing lights here and there, but in its heyday it was beautiful.

Going through this part of the mall always evoked a sense of sadness for me as I remember as a kid how lively it used to be.

That glass block walkway always freaked me out..

It really is a shame that this building failed. Also, too bad they couldn't have just found a way to keep it open while the future development stuff is worked out.

 

[Chronamut]

It woulda been cool if they had converted the "units" of each business into actual housing, and built on top - keeping the skylights

 

[KingJames]

Five Towers Up to 41 Storeys Form Tallest Proposal in Waterloo | UrbanToronto

IN8 Developments has filed applications for a five-tower mixed-use community at 170–180 Columbia Street West in Waterloo, designed by AAA Architects. The project proposes towers up to 41 storeys, the tallest proposed in Waterloo, beside the University of Waterloo campus.

urbantoronto.ca

Meanwhile crickets here , unless of course you count the beautiful canvas that they contributed to James S N.

Sell it already!

 

[thomax]

Mural by TheHalfDecent Hamilton City Centre Mall by Joe, on Flickr


Mural by Scott McDonald Hamilton City Centre Mall by Joe, on Flickr


Mural by TheHalfDecent Hamilton City Centre Mall by Joe, on Flickr


Rob Golfi mural by Scott McDonald at Hamilton City Centre Mall by Joe, on Flickr


Rob Golfi mural by Scott McDonald at Hamilton City Centre Mall by Joe, on Flickr

 

[macro]

Amazing. Its absolutely insane how much street art exists at this intersection now. There is almost nothing left to paint.

 

[KingJames]

Amazing. Its absolutely insane how much street art exists at this intersection now. There is almost nothing left to paint.

Giant wall facing King William at James N, needs an epic mural!

 

[innsertnamehere]

The Rob Golfi one is hilarious.

 

[Chronamut]

..not sure how I feel about this lol.. the fact its rotting long enough for people to muralize it feels a bit disturbing.. right in the heart of downtown..

also brings back bad memories of how the lister block looked boarded up and spraypainted over, and the william thomas building, and the buildings along king william..

 

[ScreamingViking]

..not sure how I feel about this lol.. the fact its rotting long enough for people to muralize it feels a bit disturbing.. right in the heart of downtown..

also brings back bad memories of how the lister block looked boarded up and spraypainted over, and the william thomas building, and the buildings along king william..

At least these murals are planned.

Golfi's arms get wider with every image he puts up. I wonder how the American realtor's lawsuit is going... probably nowhere right now if RG is able to put up a massive mural of himself, unless that's part of a joke?

 

[Sunnyside]

..not sure how I feel about this lol.. the fact its rotting long enough for people to muralize it feels a bit disturbing.. right in the heart of downtown..

also brings back bad memories of how the lister block looked boarded up and spraypainted over, and the william thomas building, and the buildings along king william..

I wasn’t around for it then, and I won’t suggest downtown isn’t still suffering from tremendous rot in parts (and we can officially add the Tivoli to that list today)…

But, I think the murals on this building in particular have activated the street walls more than that mall ever did. I was skeptical this wouldn’t be just lipstick, but the sheer density of art and colour makes York/James feels so lively. First was the colourful mural on the southeast corner, then City Centre’s “makeover”, and now the matching piece to the first on the northwest corner.

Its a bit sad this will have to come down once this project starts building. It’s fundamentally a waste of land today, yes, but It’s quite a fun and expressive urban realm experience that’s aesthetically hard to compare. It would only be better if there were shops and residents to compound things.

Perhaps there is some way to incorporate this into this/a development. Lord knows cheap facades could use it.

 

[Chronamut]

Yeah it's a mixed feeling for sure - at least it's not just straight up graffiti and is more planned as was said. If you had been around when everything was boarded up you'd definitely have a different feeling towards it.