Rethinking Jackson Square

Downtown Bureau

Where does Hamilton's decidedly unhip urban mall, located in the downtown core, stand in the face of tremendous changes going on around it?

By Paul Weinberg
Published May 03, 2016

In the words of one architect, Jackson Square is "the elephant in the room."

Jackson Square, King and James entrance (Image Credit: Brian Piitz)

Where does Hamilton's decidedly unhip urban mall, located in the downtown core, stand in the face of tremendous changes going on around it?

Should it be business as usual, even with the new light rail transit (LRT) system expected to run past it along King Street and Copps Coliseum/First Ontario Centre on Bay Street slated for renovations?

While the complex is undergoing a revival, with the arrival of Nations Fresh Foods and new tenants such as McMaster University and IBM, the outside and much of the interior of Jackson Square remains dark and uninviting.

Uninviting Rooftop

Many long-time residents will fondly recall the skating rink at Jackson Square and the live performances of Shakespeare's plays on the upper grounds/roof years ago. Since those activities were cancelled, the rooftop has been largely unused, notwithstanding the occasional event such as the beer festival.

Desolate Jackson Square rooftop (Image Credit: Brian Piitz)

"The idea was that the rooftop to the mall [back in 1968] would be a city park [or] a courtyard," says Jocelyne Mainville, the leasing manager at Jackson Square for Yale Properties. "Elevated from the street but a nice place where people could come up and enjoy some landscaping."

But the rooftop, which is primarily concrete and bereft of significant planting or a green roof, is today a desolate and depressing space.

"Nobody goes there; it is not even a shortcut [to anywhere]. It is a public space that is completely useless," says local artist Ingrid Mayrhofer.

In the 1990s there was a proposal to break Jackson Square up into smaller blocks and restore the grid of streets that existed before construction of the mall two decades ago. This was adopted as part of a downtown plan for Hamilton but never implemented, recalls Paul Shaker, an independent planner and one of the owners of Civic Plan consultancy.

"The prospects for downtown were looking grim [and] the city was trying to do stuff about it. The idea was we needed to take drastic measures." Since that time, little has been done to improve Jackson Square.

Jackson Square's rooftop was recently described as a windowless "blight" by the UK newspaper "The Guardian" in an article on Hamilton's renaissance.

Despite the influx of shoppers there is something about Jackson Square, with its grubbiness and cigarette butts around its perimeter, that is both unsettling and even scary for visitors and residents who rarely venture downtown.

Improvements Possible

That may change if the city, which owns the land under Jackson Square, requires improvements to be made as part of their current negotiations with Yale Properties, owner of the mall structure. Yale Properties carries a series of 99-year leases for the three sections of the city land.

On the table are two options:

Extend the 99 year leases for the city land
Permit Yale Properties to purchase the land under the mall outright

Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr, the politician representing Hamilton's core, declined to say if improvements to Jackson Square are being discussed, but he remains optimistic of the outcome.

"I can safely say that the aesthetic appearance, the rooftop and amenities, and use are not lost in these negotiations. We as a council, and I, are confident that we can do better."

Farr emphasizes that the rooftop is neither city property nor a designated "city park," as widely perceived. He calls it purely "an urban myth". "We have never done any sort of maintenance on the roof top there. It's not one of our assets."

Local architect Rick Lintack maintains that Jackson Square cannot remain removed from the surrounding revitalization of the downtown streets.

"It is better than it used to be, but don't stop," is his message to Yale Properties.

Better Street Connections

For Lintack, the gold standard in mall design is Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which opened in 1877 and is one of the world's oldest shopping malls. The interior is similar to the exterior in a way "that reminds one that you are still part of the city," he says.

The architect draws particular attention to its majestic interior skylight and suggests something similar could be done on the inside of Jackson Square - which would mean ridding the mall of some portion of the rooftop.

The cost of this replication could be high, he notes. However, the Galleria, with its beautiful arches, provides an example of how Jackson Square could be improved. On a more modest scale, Jackson Square could focus on engaging with the surrounding street and city core.

"The whole problem with Jackson Square is that there is not enough connection to the street. [It] needs to be open use, with multiple entrances to the mall," says Lintack.

The architect has some street cred as the designer of the Empire Times and Templar Flats building projects on nearby King William Street.

Empire Times building, King William and Hughson (RTH file photo)

He is also responsible for the design of the Honest Lawyer restaurant on the King Street side of Jackson Square. Both this place and the nearby Anchor Bar, which Lintack calls "cool," are the only eating and drinking spots at Jackson Square that fully engage both the pedestrians via an outside patio and the mall shoppers indoors with an interior entrance.

For Lintack, the solutions begin with introducing more restaurants, coffee shops and outdoor patios within the vicinity of Jackson Square's King-James entrance and other sides of the complex including the comatose Bay Street side of the mall with its closed store units.

Honest Lawyer patio (Image Credit: Brian Piitz)

One challenge on Bay Street, he says, is that the floor on that side of the mall is not level with the street. This makes it more difficult to meet the accessibility requirements of the Ontario Building Code.

1960s Utopianism

Meanwhile, Mayrhofer traces the evolution of the Jackson Square rooftop to the "utopia weirdness" of 1960s planners who wanted to eliminate the presence of pedestrians at street level ("they were expected to walk above the streets").

Elevated walkway over King Street between Jackson Square and the Hamilton Convention Centre (Image Credit: Brian Piitz)

She suggests that the mall explore alternatives to chasing away the young people who congregate either in the vicinity of Jackson Square or on the roof. "Why not build a skateboarding site? They would have a new generation using the place."

Mayrhofer also suggests giving graffiti artists some mural space at Jackson Square to incorporate their self-expression and a soup kitchen inside the mall for the local population of homeless people.

However, Mainville, who has been in her job for ten years, counters that Yale Properties is not equipped to deal with non-mall activity beyond its retail purpose. She says that a skateboarding facility in particular would lead to new maintenance challenges.

Yale Properties is looking at ways to make better use of the rooftop but there is nothing to report at the present time, adds Mainville. "To do anything, make any changes to the [rooftop] area [in particular] is quite costly. So, it is not something where decisions are made and even implemented inside of a year."

She indicated that Yale is concentrating its attention on fixing the King and James entrance.

King and James entrance (Image Credit: Brian Piitz)

Opportunity to Rethink

Decisions about Jackson Square such as a major reworking of the rooftop or the addition of some structures cannot be undertaken by Yale Properties without the approval of the city, explains Raymond Kessler, Hamilton's manager of Real Estate.

"[Yale] would have to come to us and seek approval of that under the terms of the leasing agreement. In addition [Yale] would have to get their building permit [from the city]," he stated.

But changes to improve lighting and signage are strictly internal and can be undertaken by a mall management right away to enrich the shopping experience.

As the city and Yale Properties dicker on the final lease or perhaps price to purchase, city hall watchdog and CATCH writer Don McLean observes, "Irrespective of ownership, the City should have planning options that could enhance that site. So if there's an opportunity for re-negotiation, could it also include the possibility of rethinking, redesigning, repurposing?" he asks.

Shaker echoes this sentiment, pointing out that the downtown core represents the largest employment hub in Hamilton.

He notes that there is a mistaken notion that downtown is a "charity case" where too much is already being invested there by the city. "The downtown makes an economic contribution to the rest of the city, which benefits everybody. That, we need to better understand."

Paul Weinberg thanks the Ontario Arts Council for its assistance. Photos are contributed by Brian Piitz, a professional photographer and instructor.

Paul Weinberg is a Hamilton-based freelance journalist and the editor of an upcoming collection, Reclaiming Hamilton: Essays from the Ambitious City. He is also a member of Environment Hamilton.

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By highasageorgiapine (registered) | Posted May 03, 2016 at 10:09:51

"Despite the influx of shoppers there is something about Jackson Square, with its grubbiness and cigarette butts around its perimeter, that is both unsettling and even scary for visitors and residents who rarely venture downtown."

i am sick and tired of reading this trash constantly. it is alarmist for absolutely no reason and has undertones of classism.

Raise the Hammer

Downtown Bureau