McMaster Innovation Park | ? | various | Construction
 

$15m renovation under way at McMaster Innovation Park

November 26, 2007
The Hamilton Spectator

The old brick building and the field of gravel that have been the public’s picture of McMaster Innovation Park are about to change significantly.

Work has begun on $15-million in massive interior renovations to the former Camco office building on Longwood Road South, where the university has secured tenants for one third of the building’s 120,000 square feet.

Those tenants are to start moving in in early 2008, about the same time construction is expected to begin on the federal materials laboratory building immediately south of the existing building.

Work begins on $15m reno to transform ex-Camco site

November 27, 2007
Wade Hemsworth
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 27, 2007)

The old brick building and the field of gravel that have been the public's picture of McMaster Innovation Park are about to change dramatically.

Work has begun on $15-million worth of renovations to the former Camco building on Longwood Road South, where MIP president Zachary Douglas has lined up the first eight tenants who will occupy one-third of the building's 120,000 square feet.

The first of those tenants, as yet unnamed, is expected to be moving in by April, starting in motion a 10- to 15-year plan for the park, where ultimately, the university expects to see as many as 3,000 occupants and 1.7 million square feet of office, laboratory and meeting space.

The renovation of the red brick building is to be complete by the end of 2008, with new offices, wet and dry labs, conference space, fitness facilities and food concessions. The rear annex of the building will centre on an open atrium that forms the hub of the northeast corner of the park.

Before that work is done, construction for the park's key tenant, the federal government materials laboratory, CANMET, will be under way next door to the south, with groundbreaking expected in the autumn of 2008. That building is expected to be complete by 2010 and become home to 100 top federal scientists.

"I'm quite pleased in the sense that things are starting to happen," said Mo Elbestawi, the university's vice-president responsible for research.

Within the next month, Douglas also expects to finalize plans by a local hotelier to build a long-stay hotel at the MIP, immediately north of the brick building overlooking Highway 403.

New centres for research at Mac park

Wade Hemsworth
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 27, 2007)

As the first new building of the McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) begins to move from concept to reality, the next stages are already on the drawing board.

In addition to the 2008 construction start planned for the new federal materials laboratory, there are "serious, strong" plans under way for two more new buildings, said Mo Elbestawi, McMaster's vice-president responsible for research.

One building will be for engineering technology research and another for biosciences.

While the MIP site has been quiet for months, aggressive work has been going on behind the scenes to transform the broad vision for the research park into practical reality.

The MIP is meant to combine public, private and university resources to cross-pollinate ideas across sectors and disciplines, to foster education and to create jobs and revenue as the ideas are commercialized.

The measure of the project's success, Elbestawi said, will be its ability to attract private investment, especially from companies that have strong research and development components.

The university is broadly targeting private-sector partners in materials and manufacturing, biosciences, energy research and software development, including animation, graphics and gaming.

McMaster bought the property -- which straddles Longwood Road South between Aberdeen Avenue and Main Street West -- in 2005.

As many as 14 buildings are planned for the MIP, with plans that include airy, campus-style landscaping with ponds, trees and interior roadways.

The design of the park and its individual buildings emphasizes collaboration, environmental sensitivity and accessibility to multiple forms of transportation.

So there will possibly be 4 buildings total starting in 2008? That's pretty sweet!
Do you know the other two companies that are planning to build?

I don't know of any companies yet, but I do know Mohawk College will have some classes in the renovated Camco building.

Here's Phase 1 that's currently happening right now, the red circle is the location of the new hotel

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21.../phase1mip.jpg

This is Phase 2 where two new buildings will locate, one for engineering technology research and another for biosciences.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21.../phase2mip.jpg

hotel is in Phase 1?? I thought it would be much later.

I guess I answered my own question:

http://www.mcmasterinnovationpark.ca/EOI-HOTEL.pdf

^ Also here's a quote from the article about the hotel....

that'll be good...it'll be nice to see a new hotel from the highway too. for that matter, all this construction will be nice to see from the 403 (if things are tall enough to be seen). It'll give people an idea that Hamilton is doing something again, not just sitting here stinking.

I think the bridge is also supposed to get tidied up as well, with lighting I think. I remember seeing a rendering where there were two poles that lights up on each entrance of the bridge.

Rendering of the renovated Camco building....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...6/camcomip.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../camcomip1.jpg

I thought that Oacar Kishi was building the hotel?

I just remember watching a show on the Discovery channel about this poles that light up. Think it was in San Deigo and it looked really cool. It changes colour over time.

I know what you're talking about, Steeltown.
If you look at this picture you can see little circles on either side of the bridge... I believe those are indicating that there will be decorative poles at tne entryways.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21.../phase1mip.jpg

EDIT: Take a look at the bridge in http://www.mcmasterinnovationpark.ca/sustainable.pdf
http://www.mcmasterinnovationpark.ca/open_public.pdf

You can see the poles.

We should have every entrance with these poles. They are really cool and it's LED so it's doesn't waste energy.

I searched and couldn't find it but it's something like this....

http://common.csnstores.com/common/p.../BSS1377_m.jpg

and it changes colours over time.

Well they have those two olympic-torch'esq poles at Bay/Cannon... I think they're super neat!! They should also upgrade the lights on the T.B. McQueston High Level Bridge on York to LED!

Poles on York:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...3/DSC01816.jpg

That pole is alright but pfft what does it mean? It's just strange. Maybe that's a question I should ask Fred Anderson on You Asked on CH.

What we should do is light up this city with LED lights. Light up the High Level Bridge. Once the renovated City Hall is done light it up. Light up Lister Block, etc. Hell a park that I live next door to Newlands Park just got renovated and it lights up at night now.

Imagine the Skyway with LEDs along the whole thing (arch and all)? THAT would look amazing!!! Talk about re-branding the city! I don't think the MTO would allow that... apparently having the city (H) logo on a 'Welcome to Hamilton' sign is "too distracting"!?