This September saw the start of a long-envisioned transformation of 27 King William Street in downtown Hamilton. After years of planning, consultation, and delays (no thanks to you COVID!), the Sky Dragon Community Development Co-operative Inc. is finally launching a full redevelopment of the Sky Dragon Centre.
The redevelopment plans will see an addition added to the back of 27 King William, along with a new roof. Space created by the addition will allow an elevator to be installed, along with a third large, multi-use studio space and three new washrooms on the second floor. The three fully accessible second floor studios will be available for arts and wellness classes, workshops, community meetings, presentations, and film screenings. In the basement, there will be two offices, a multi-use meeting / board room, and a new bathroom. Finally, three residential condominium units are being created on the third floor of the Centre. Two of these units are still available for purchase, so if you’re interested in living on one of the coolest downtown streets on top of a groovy community centre, please check out this page.
In the first two weeks of September, construction on 27 King William began, with the intrepid excavators of Marini and Sons Construction cracking into the sidewalk and roadway in order to install a new sewer lateral and water line. We unfortunately had to take down the lovely linden tree in front of Relay, as it was directly in the path of the new sewer line. The City will be replacing the tree soon enough.
Marini and Sons dug through and around abandoned water mains and concrete vaults, eventually coring through the South basement wall of the Centre. Master plumber John, from Pipe Maintenance, then connected the new 2″ water service, which will enable the new residential units to be effectively serviced.
Big thanks are owed to the patient and helpful owners of Relay Coffee Roasters – Rachel and Jason Hofing – and their amazing staff. They dealt amazingly well with a massive cavern being dug in front of their coffee shop just days before SuperCrawl began. They’re not just purveyors of delicious coffee, but also incredible people to boot!
The main construction at 27 King William will be starting in the spring of 2024, as soon as the weather allows. Construction is projected to end by the fall of 2024, at which point the Sky Dragon Co-operative will be inviting everyone to a grand opening of the new Sky Dragon Centre. It will be the mother of all block parties, and we can’t wait to throw it!
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