Comment 64281

By Mogadon Megalodon (anonymous) | Posted May 31, 2011 at 07:42:16

Thanks for the timeline.

The dirt lot aspect was what I was getting at in my earlier post. What people see now is just the deadening megablock. What they forget was that this area stalled out for a number of years between the time that they levelled 40+ acres of downtown and the time that work began, and years again before its first phase would open to the public: from 1967-1972 that was essentially dead space.

This was complicated by the telescoped, spaghettied project scheduling of the "Civic Square" redevelopment:

1972: Phase 1 opens
1972: Bank of Montreal building opens (1 James North)
1973: Stelco Tower opens (100 King West)
1973: Hamilton Place opens (1 Summers at Main)
1977: Phase 2 opens
1977: Robert Thomson building opens (110 King West)
1977: Art Gallery of Hamilton opens (123 King West)
1980: HPL Central Branch opens
1981: Hamilton Convention Centre/Ellen Fairclough Building opens (King/MacNab)
1983: Standard Life tower (120 King West)
1985: Sheraton Hamilton opens
1985: Copps Coliseum opens (101 York Blvd)

Related to this, you have:

1969-70: US recession
1971: IBM Tower opens (Main/MacNab)
1971: Closing of the Capitol Theatre
1972: Demolition of the Palace Theatre
1973: Birks building demolished
1973: Oil Crisis I
1974: Century 21 Building/Landmark Building completed
1974-75: Recession
1976: First Place opens (King/Wellington)
1976: York Boulevard facelift
1976: Spectator moves out of downtown
1973: Oil Crisis II
1981-2: Recession
1983: Gore Park Massacre
1987: Commerce Place I opens (King/James)

And you'd also have the loss of the historic Eatons building in the late 80s as well.

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