Andrew Allen makes a case for LIUNA's plan to demolish and replicate the Lister Block.
By Andrew Allen
Jun. 16, 2006
No developer has been interested in the Lister Block for 15 years. What makes people think another developer will be interested in the Lister Block? It just rots and waits for some really serious fire to knock this building down. Then everyone will want a new fancy building to be built on the site, perhaps a replica.
LIUNA so far has had made three bids to redevelop the Lister Block. I haven’t seen any other developer making a bid to redevelop the Lister.
Look at what happened to Tivoli, a beautiful theatre that collapsed. After that happened we now have a group trying to find a developer to redevelop the theatre, so far unsuccessful. The problem is that we don’t have any developers interested in redeveloping the Tivoli. We’re just waiting for the main theatre to collapse as well.
Yet suddenly we’re supposed to think we have a line up of developers oozing to restore the Lister Block. I don’t want the same fate of Tivoli to happen with the Lister Block.
It's fantastic that the old Bank of Montreal, Victoria Hall, Pigott, Royal Connaught Hotel, CN Station (restored by LIUNA, by the way), and many other historical buildings have been or are being restored, but none of them have had a rougher trip than the Lister has had: crack house, fires, vandalism, abandon for 15 years, mould, and falling debris.
At times, I find the Hamilton Spectator to be very biased but all media sources tend to be biased. And wasn’t it the Spec that gave enough pressure to save the two buildings beside the Lister Block and also get rid of the glass wall?
Yes, there are numerous articles about it and complaints from councillors saying the Spec isn’t being fair. Thanks have to be given out to the Spec for applying pressure to get a much better rendering of the Lister Block.
I would personally love to see the Lister fully restored, but I also have to give the block a reality check, the same way for St Deny's fate. Both Lister and St Deny's are so rotted out that developers are just going to hope for it to collapse to run up and buy the property once it's gone.
If the City needs Class A office space, then why the hell not spend an extra few bucks to create a win-win situation of finding a Class A office space and redeveloping a section of downtown Hamilton with the Lister Block.
The downtown has been on a good turnaround in the last few years and I hope it continues on indefinitely. To deny LIUNA’s plan to redevelop one of the largest downtown eyesores is going to damage our downtown and set us back from what we have achieved so far.
We could go on and on and on about all the great developments happening in our beautiful core but our biggest block is still going to be a giant reminder of we failed to keep the momentum going.
A shadow has been cast over the integrity of LIUNA, that has been questioned time and time again by Mr. Bratina. A shadow has been cast over council because he has dishonoured the sacred privilege and trust of public office." -- Joe Mancinelli, president of LIUNA, on Councillor Bob Bratina's efforts to find someone willing to buy the Lister Block and restore it
NewsfeedsISSN: 1715-1554
Transit IS Pedestrian-Friendly (Aug. 25, 2008) - I really hope McMaster University will reconsider its decision to move the B-Line express buses off-campus, particularly given that the justification is to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly
Hamilton Lost 20% of Farmland since 1991 (Aug. 25, 2008) -
The Toronto Star has published an interactive map of lost farmland across southern Ontario.
Hamilton alone lost 20 percent of its farms in the 15 years between 1991 and 2006. Click on a high
Fringe Festival Review: I Am Not Neil Young (Aug. 22, 2008) -
What does it mean to live in the shadow of greatness? How can a talent made famous for his ability to impersonate demonstrate or even discover his own true self?
Frank Wilks is not Neil Y
Fringe Festival Review: New Talent (Aug. 22, 2008) -
The emotionally harrowing tale of a young woman driven by circumstance into the escort business, New Talent is simply a tremendous performance.
Interweaving a personal tragedy with a public
Fringe Festival Review: Lear's Shadow (Aug. 22, 2008) - The tragic Lear's Shadow boils Shakespeare's King Lear down to its essence: not the conflict between an insecure father and his treacherous daughters but rather the interplay between a foo
Fringe Festival Review: Because I Can (Aug. 21, 2008) -
Written by Allison McWood and directed by James Henderson, Because I Can is a screwball comedy that parlays a simple premise into a lively hour of very funny entertainment.
Karina Berschteyn
PRINT EDITION
By King James
Posted 6/16/2006 1:51:15 PM
I couldn't agree more. The urban core has subsidized suburban development for decades. It's about time for the reverse scenario.
(Permalink)