jje1000
Senior Member
Is it being fixed up? It doesn't look to be as in bad of a shape, but I fear that it might fall victim to arson.
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DC83
Senior Member
The previous ownership consortium is in receivership. The building itself is for sale for ~ $5 mil. ..Any interested buyers out there? lol
Arson shouldn't be a problem. The consortium used a City grant to remove all asbestos from the bldg, so it is a complete shell of concrete at this point. If Lister could survive the dozens of arson attempts (wood-and-all), Connaught can survive as a concrete frame.
Arson shouldn't be a problem. The consortium used a City grant to remove all asbestos from the bldg, so it is a complete shell of concrete at this point. If Lister could survive the dozens of arson attempts (wood-and-all), Connaught can survive as a concrete frame.
adma
Superstar
DC83
Senior Member
It's not the only one! There's also the Federal/CRA Building @ MainWest & Caroline that a 'developer' wants to tear down for condos (which will never happen based on his record of doing nothing - Vrancor).
ShonTron
Moderator
The Lister Block is looking great. I was biking around Hamilton Harbour and the Escarpment two weekends ago and got these shots:
Observer Walt
Senior Member
Shon, the building really is looking good. It's one step in a long and painfully slow process of upgrading downtown Hamilton. Now, if someone could make something happen at the Royal Connaught Hotel ... There were four or five of these buildings in the downtown core which were just jewels, once upon a time, and maybe once again, with any luck and a whole lot of vision.
Tewder
Senior Member
What a success! Nice to see.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I did some time in Hamilton in the late 80's. We used to do the newspaper ads on Tuesdays upstairs in an area known as the "crying room" at the Tivoli (an elevated area with a window at the back of the cinema where mothers could presumably take crying baby's back in the day), I loved this place. I'd heard part of the auditorium collapsed & was demolished, guess I confused it with the Century Cinema (aka Lyric) a few blocks east. The lobby area was originally a carriage house built in the 1880's and even a funeral home prior to the cinema portion being built in the 1920's. What a shame to hear that's all gone, it had beautiful frontage on James Street too though somewhat rundown at the time.
Hamilton is loaded with treasures downtown, it's such a shame that so much of it lays unused, decaying and greatly forgotten.
DC83
Senior Member
King William Businesses
Sad news, but I've hear rumours Reardon's Deli & Meats (down the street from Lister Block) will be closing this December after 99 years.
The owner blames the closure of King William St for streetscaping purposes in relation to Lister's reno. I blame their poor customer service as the few times I attempted to browse/purchase anything in there, I was ignored or had other customers served before me (though I arrived first).
However, another King William business (Thai Memory) is also rumoured to be closing due to the street being closed off for the better part of 2011.
So perhaps Reardon's has some truth to their claims (though I still lay part-blame on their terrible customer service).
The City got quite the bum deal on Lister, and renovating to office space with little streetfront retail over Condo/Lofts with a Grocery Store at streetfront wont do much at all for 'redeveloping' downtown Hamilton. In fact, due to Hamilton Public Health moving from their current Right House location (King & Hughson) to Lister, there will be another empty historic structure left in Lister's wake.
Sad news, but I've hear rumours Reardon's Deli & Meats (down the street from Lister Block) will be closing this December after 99 years.
The owner blames the closure of King William St for streetscaping purposes in relation to Lister's reno. I blame their poor customer service as the few times I attempted to browse/purchase anything in there, I was ignored or had other customers served before me (though I arrived first).
However, another King William business (Thai Memory) is also rumoured to be closing due to the street being closed off for the better part of 2011.
So perhaps Reardon's has some truth to their claims (though I still lay part-blame on their terrible customer service).
The City got quite the bum deal on Lister, and renovating to office space with little streetfront retail over Condo/Lofts with a Grocery Store at streetfront wont do much at all for 'redeveloping' downtown Hamilton. In fact, due to Hamilton Public Health moving from their current Right House location (King & Hughson) to Lister, there will be another empty historic structure left in Lister's wake.