From eyesore to sexy: ‘Radio Arts’ latest Hamilton downtown revival project
If a building can be almost famous by virtue of its unsightliness, the monument to the utility of brown metal siding just west of Jackson Square might qualify.
The warehouse downtown at the northeast corner of King Street West and Caroline Street, for five decades home to Hamilton Store Fixtures, was dubbed an ugly duckling" in the Spectator; a few years ago a chunk of the siding dangerously sheared off in a windstorm.
But the 114-year-old building is shedding its metal skin, poised to become the latest development rising from the core's gritty past, as the Radio Arts" condos.
The name invokes a former life of the building at 206 King St. W. from the 1960s. Proponents depict the planned residential space as hip and community-oriented, and the building may also be the first in Hamilton to offer a stacked car parking system.
The developer, Toronto-based Vernon Shaw, told the Spec there will be a ground-floor coffee house that channels the fictional Central Perk" meeting spot from Friends." (Shaw said Starbucks need not apply; he is a fan of local coffee shops like the Mulberry.)
The 14-storey, 122-unit building will be marketed toward McMaster University graduate students, as well as doctors, nurses and other young professionals," he said.
Most of the units will be priced under $575,000. Hunter Milborne, a consultant on the project, suggested the price in the context of the current real estate market is not drastically low, but it's affordable."
The building still needs final site plan approval from the city once zoning points are ironed-out, but downtown councillor Jason Farr said that approval is a slam dunk," and that an additional construction crane will soon be added in the core.
Farr added that among the unprecedented" number of projects coming to fruition downtown, Radio Arts has amazing qualities."
Next to large residential towers, Radio Arts falls more in the boutique" category, said Milborne.
By comparison, final site approval is imminent for a 635-unit residential complex at 75 James St. S., across from the YMCA. Farr said preparation work on that project is well underway.
Shaw, who finished acquiring the Radio Arts property in 2018 and is president of the Canlight Group, suggested smaller residential buildings encourage community-building.
This (Radio Arts) is the perfect size ... The thinking is that residents can spend leisure time in the building, in the lounge or fitness studio or workspace, and get to know each other."
Interior designer Erika McCarthy lives in Hamilton, and as a teenager rode the bus downtown along King.
She remembers eating at the old Harvest Burger restaurant, next door to the building wrapped in brown that you never noticed much.
You always knew it was there but it was an eyesore with that siding," she said. It's super exciting for me to be part of the team involved in the Radio Arts project, in my city, and with the direction the city is taking."
McCarthy uses words like sexy and moody to describe the vibe of the envisioned space: The kind of place you want to hang out in."
Radio Arts was the logo the development team discovered on the weathered mosaic tile lobby of the original building.
Back in November 1959, CHIQ 1280 AM radio opened there with a classical music format: Hamilton's New Love; Beautiful CHIQ Music," read one promo.
In February 1964, David Marsden - known as Dave Mickie" - was spinning records for CHIQ, presumably still classical, even as the DJ hosted a Teenage Dance" for fans of the Beatles at King's Hall on King Street, the Spec reported.
(About 15 years later, Marsden developed an alternative radio format called the spirit of the radio" at CFNY FM, a phrase that inspired the title of the iconic Rush song. Marsden's animated likeness and name appear in the song video.)
CHIQ left the building in 1967, moving further east on King, reborn as CHAM.
Shaw said the new building will offer brick and beam" touches from the ground-up in the four-storey podium section, and they hope to reclaim old timbers and artifacts.
The architect behind the project is KNYMH, the firm that designed the Royal Connaught building.
Shaw said he hopes final city approvals happen in the next three to four months, and residents start living in the new building possibly two years from now.
In the mid-1990s, Shaw led the redevelopment of the Pigott building on James Street South. He said investors back then were warned to stay away from downtown Hamilton.
That talk brought back memories for Shaw of his native England, where short-sighted critics had said similar things about economically depressed areas of London.
It's incredible what I've seen take place in Hamilton," he said. After a gloomy period, the city is now enjoying its day in the sun."
Jon Wells is a feature writer at The Spectator. jwells@thespec.com