[Chronamut]

I hope they're friggen happy - they got what they wanted - destruction of every heritage building on that strip where they can now build a crappy building in its place - they're probably pissed the bank building on the corner of james and main is still standing.

And oh look, I was right, they literally did take a backhoe to it, let it collapse and sifted through what crashed down and placed it on skids. Disgusting.

Can't wait to see what eyesore facade they propose here while 75% of the interior podium is taken up by parking.. :/ - maybe they'll do a halfhearted stencil facade recreation like they proposed with the tivoli - where they recreate shapes made of damn styrofoam and then stucco over it like that one across from capri..

like sunnyside.. this too has just taken the life out of me.. haven't felt this gutted since they cut down all the mature trees in gore park. The lack of respect for our city is just appalling.

Thank GOD they worked to restore the buildings further down beside the old embassy. The bank is now the only old building left on that entire demolished block. I wonder how the bank of nova scotia is gonna fare... if the demolition will affect them structurally..

Feel the stab in your heart as this digs into the last one..

It even had a roman pillar inside holding it up structurally..

Read more HERE.

"As part of the evolving development proposal, a heritage permit has called for the preservation or replication of facades, depending on the address.

The pre-Confederation stone fronts of 18-22 King St. E. were to be secured by a steel structure while the rest of the redevelopment work continued.
A “conditionally approved” heritage permit also called for the restoration of 18-22’s gable roof and dormers.
But heritage provisions don’t apply in the emergency situation, unlike a planned demolition, which comes with a prescribed process to save heritage features, Robichaud said.
Nonetheless, the city has “requested” that the owner “salvage the heritage elements and they’ve agreed to the city’s request.”
Stone heritage features from the facades of buildings were placed on skids at the fenced-off demolition site. Last week, excavators dropped bricks into a dumpster.

On Friday, David Blanchard, the consortium’s managing partner, said via an emailed statement the group is “working” with the city “to determine next steps in a conservation plan” for what remains of the buildings.
Blanchard said “heritage polices and economic conditions have delayed” the consortium’s redevelopment plans.
Carroll, meanwhile, said he has “absolutely zero” confidence in the future of the dismantled heritage features.
“We had made the best of a bad situation,” he said, referring to the plan to at least save some of the facades, if not the buildings themselves.
“And then the builder sits on his thumb and does nothing.”

 

[TheHonestMaple]

I'm also sad about this, but let's not be too dramatic or emotional. The fact is, these buildings were falling apart and needed to come down at some point. I lay a lot of blame on the city, with their needless bureaucracy that has held up prior developments. Only the facade was worth saving here. The city should have created conditions that would have made that easier, not cancelled developers plans because they wouldn't save the entire structure - something that was always physically impossible. These buildings would never have met modern building requirements.

 

[Chronamut]

I'm also sad about this, but let's not be too dramatic or emotional. The fact is, these buildings were falling apart and needed to come down at some point. I lay a lot of blame on the city, with their needless bureaucracy that has held up prior developments. Only the facade was worth saving here. The city should have created conditions that would have made that easier, not cancelled developers plans because they wouldn't save the entire structure - something that was always physically impossible. These buildings would never have met modern building requirements.

And yet the buildings in the next block east of here.. did. They DID save the entire structure of them - all the buildings east of the old embassy have been restructured and saved. Nothing in the interior was deemed to not meet modern building requirements - those things tend to be grandfathered in.

There is only one reason these ones collapsed - and it's because the wall of buildings was made unstable with the demolition of the one building. Had they rebuilt a building there it would have kept the entire row structurally sound. The fact that it lasted as long as it did is a testament to how things were built back then. This is an issue with the city for apparently not understanding how these basic architectural buildings worked. A wall in between a rowhouse is not structurally strong enough to hold up to the shear force the other buildings press against it unless it is reinforced. Only by being sandwiched in between 2 stronger buildings can they last.

There should have been a restructuring of the first collapsed buildings the decades ago after it collapsed, or a reinforcing of that wall with cinderblock or other strong material to keep it stable.

And lets not forget at that time, these buildings were NOT in as bad a shape as they were in now - it was only because of the decades of neglect and weather eroding them, lack of proper ventilation and heating that these buildings essentially rotted to the point of collapse that they did.

But yes, a william thomas solution should have been done here, where the stone facades were removed, the back was demolished and then rebuilt with modern building code requirements with the condo rising behind it.

 

[Sunnyside]

I'm also sad about this, but let's not be too dramatic or emotional. The fact is, these buildings were falling apart and needed to come down at some point. I lay a lot of blame on the city, with their needless bureaucracy that has held up prior developments. Only the facade was worth saving here. The city should have created conditions that would have made that easier, not cancelled developers plans because they wouldn't save the entire structure - something that was always physically impossible. These buildings would never have met modern building requirements.

The blame is quite easy to lay out.

The developer did as developers do, which is to minimize their costs. I never once doubted the developer wanted to let this thing fall, and do the minimum heritage work it was required to.

That’s not a unique problem, though; I agree that It’s the city. Even by municipal standards, this is embarrassing and indicates true rot. There are a variety of levers that could have avoided this, as you highlight.

…But that never happened. Our Heritage Dept and Registry are effectively as thin as is Legal. Council has never cared, city staff can’t afford to, and the private sector certainly didn’t.

So yes- I am being overly pessimistic, when 20 farmhouses can be designated in Bowmanville, yet the picturesque centre of a nationally significant city, which also predates said.
nation, falls to rubble.

I agree that it’s up and onward though- we must ensure these facades get rebuilt, at least.

It’s not so much that I wonder why things are this bad- everyone knows moneys been tight for decades. It’s the absence of a way out of this.

 

[berklon]

The city should hold the developers feet to the fire now to get them to immediately start the process of a new development there, or force them to sell to someone who will.
No f'n way this should remain a blight of the area for any extended period of time.

 

[TheHonestMaple]

The blame is quite easy to lay out.

The developer did as developers do, which is to minimize their costs. I never once doubted the developer wanted to let this thing fall, and do the minimum heritage work it was required to.

That’s not a unique problem, though; I agree that It’s the city. Even by municipal standards, this is embarrassing and indicates true rot. There are a variety of levers that could have avoided this, as you highlight.

…But that never happened. Our Heritage Dept and Registry are effectively as thin as is Legal. Council has never cared, city staff can’t afford to, and the private sector certainly didn’t.

So yes- I am being overly pessimistic, when 20 farmhouses can be designated in Bowmanville, yet the picturesque centre of a nationally significant city, which also predates said.
nation, falls to rubble.

I agree that it’s up and onward though- we must ensure these facades get rebuilt, at least.

It’s not so much that I wonder why things are this bad- everyone knows moneys been tight for decades. It’s the absence of a way out of this.

The city will have to pay for the facade recreation. There's no chance the developer will. As you say, it's too expensive - and they have no legal obligation to do it. At the end of the day, it was their property that fell down.

We'd almost have more luck starting a community group to raise funding and work with the developer to make it happen. Would be nice to see people like David Premi and Steve Kulakowsky step up and offer their services for free here. Anyone have any personal connection to them? @Chris R.

The city is massively incompetent, and the developer won't do it alone.

 

[Chronamut]

The city will have to pay for the facade recreation. There's no chance the developer will. As you say, it's too expensive - and they have no legal obligation to do it. At the end of the day, it was their property that fell down.

We'd almost have more luck starting a community group to raise funding and work with the developer to make it happen. Would be nice to see people like David Premi and Steve Kulakowsky step up and offer their services for free here. Anyone have any personal connection to them? @Chris R.

The city is massively incompetent, and the developer won't do it alone.

A heritage fundraiser might actually not be a bad idea - provided there is a guarantee that is what the money goes towards - I simply don't trust these developers to do the right thing - they let it collapse for a reason.

However, if a facade recreation was in order it would at least allow these properties to be shown the way they were originally shown almost 200 years ago, much like the william thomas building has more life breathed into the facade as they repaired parts of it and gave it a new cornice. I mean with composite cement you can basically just make it in molds technically. Hell you could probably even 3d print it - they did that with ruins in afghanistan that were destroyed.

On the p[us side, with so many "proposals" having been done here they know EXACTLY what the buildings looked like.

 

[Sunnyside]

A heritage fundraiser might actually not be a bad idea - provided there is a guarantee that is what the money goes towards - I simply don't trust these developers to do the right thing - they let it collapse for a reason.

However, if a facade recreation was in order it would at least allow these properties to be shown the way they were originally shown almost 200 years ago, much like the william thomas building has more life breathed into the facade as they repaired parts of it and gave it a new cornice. I mean with composite cement you can basically just make it in molds technically. Hell you could probably even 3d print it - they did that with ruins in afghanistan that were destroyed.

On the p[us side, with so many "proposals" having been done here they know EXACTLY what the buildings looked like.

I would be onboard with a fundraiser.

I don’t necessarily distrust developers, but that’s because I do have an unsavoury theory of mind for them and their practice.

I think they would rather have just rebuilt this from scratch in the first place; the old adage of, “cheaper to tear down and start over than to restore”. So asking/helping them to do that would go a long way. The city has certainly assembled the Lego bricks for them.

Don’t recall seeing that render before, though- or at least not in many years. What a splash of colour.

Final aside- the development block here is really important in fleshing out not one, not two, but now three street walls in the financial core. This oddly-shaped parcel still needs to be developed, despite what the owner has allowed to fall upon the King frontage.

….The developer is not going to get away with a shit treatment on the King side for sure anymore, but we should keep the pressure on to deliver something of quality from all angles, especially the Main and James street walls. @Chronamut perhaps we ask them to 3D print extras from the mandated King facade rebuild

 

[Chronamut]

I would be onboard with a fundraiser.

I don’t necessarily distrust developers, but that’s because I do have an unsavoury theory of mind for them and their practice.

I think they would rather have just rebuilt this from scratch in the first place; the old adage of, “cheaper to tear down and start over than to restore”. So asking/helping them to do that would go a long way. The city has certainly assembled the Lego bricks for them.

Don’t recall seeing that render before, though- or at least not in many years. What a splash of colour.

Final aside- the development block here is really important in fleshing out not one, not two, but now three street walls in the financial core. This oddly-shaped parcel still needs to be developed, despite what the owner has allowed to fall upon the King frontage.

….The developer is not going to get away with a shit treatment on the King side for sure anymore, but we should keep the pressure on to deliver something of quality from all angles, especially the Main and James street walls. @Chronamut perhaps we ask them to 3D print extras from the mandated King facade rebuild

It would be cool to see heritage facades on the main and james street side too

rebuilding it from scratch is still costly though - I honestly just think they thought they could get away with building something cheap looking here - I mean they did with the bank of nova scotia and the other 2 skyscrapers - you barely even notice them they're so bland.. they're just.. there.. height massing for the sake of it.

Sadly all those "lego bricks" appear to have been partially damaged from the backhoe.

 

[IamNotaRobot]

Sell the property to Core Urban, that's probably the only hope

 

[Chronamut]

Sell the property to Core Urban, that's probably the only hope

You're not wrong..

 

[Stec]

This spot could be Core Urban's crown jewel if they got their hands on it and likely their tallest build yet while maintaining a faux heritage feel.... I would be down for this!

 

[CanadianNational]

What a hurtful and disgusting piece of neglect. I hope Hamilton is well and truly ashamed.
Here's hoping for a well-done and sympathetic reconstruction. Usually I wouldn't want a re-creation, but I think in this case it's warranted. I don't see a new modern building going in here that is likely to live up to the old facades for a) faddishness and b) the cheapening.
This, plus the Tivoli, is a gut punch to anyone who cares about the city. Not just what is lost, but by what it indicates.

 

[BrenWilson]

My view from the office today. Wonder if I should steal some bricks.

 

[Chronamut]

wish theyd demolish the bank of nova scotia too - the remaining buildings are the epitomy of bland.