News
November 16, 2011
The rejuvenated Smith Robinson Building in downtown Kingston is quickly filling. ABNA Investments is pleased to announce that seven major tenants have completed agreements to occupy the building. Urban Paws Pet Food & Accessories will open on the ground floor, along with Marble Slab Creamery and Milestones Grill+Bar. Milestones, seen in the photo above in the final stages of construction, is now open. Second floor tenants include TD Waterhouse, the newly renamed Original Hockey Hall of Fame and Delcan Corporation. Cunningham Swan will occupy the entire third floor of the building.
For newly added photos of interior work at the site, visit the Images page. For a directory of tenants with links to their websites, please visit the Tenants page.
July 14, 2011
Beloved hockey commentator Don Cherry has lent his support to a proposal to re-locate the Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston to the historic Smith Robinson Building. The Kingston native toured the building on July 5, 2011, along with retired National Hockey League stars Wayne Cashman and Rick Smith. Hank Doornekamp and Nate Doornekamp of ABNA Investments guided the tour through the ongoing restoration project at the nearly 200-year-old building. It is being restored to its former grandeur. The video above captures Grapes during a stop on the third floor of the building, as the group talks about the possibility of renaming the hall. It’s hoped the facility, Canada’s oldest sports hall of fame, can be moved from its present home on York Street to the spacious stone building at 27 Princess Street, where it would occupy two floors on the northeast corner of the property. For a gallery of photos of Grapes’ tour through the building, visit the Images page.
June 9, 2011
ABNA Investments is proud to announce its first major tenant in the historic Smith Robinson Building in downtown Kingston, Ontario, is Milestones Grill + Bar, a restaurant known for its inspired menu and warm ambiance. Milestones will occupy a stunning space on the ground floor of the restored building, where towering arched windows afford a view of Princess Street and the rising dome of City Hall. The panoramic photo below offers a striking view of the Princess Street side of the space that the restaurant will inhabit (click image to enlarge).
April 25, 2011
Kingston was once a key centre for Canada’s thriving piano manufacturing industry and most of that activity was based in the Commercial Mart building at the corner of Princess and Ontario streets. Pianos were built in Kingston by more than half a dozen companies for roughly 100 years, beginning in 1841. Notable among the builders was the John C. Fox company that operated in the building from 1862 to 1868. Above is a striking square grand manufactured by the Fox company at its Kingston plant in 1866. The ornate instrument is currently on display at the Canadian Piano Museum in Napanee. Below is the keyboard on an upright built in 1912 by the Wormwith Piano Company, a firm that occupied the historic 27 Princess St. building from 1893 to 1918.
April 15, 2011
Workers are today pouring a substantial portion of the new, main-level concrete floor on the south side of the building. The photo above shows the steel sub-floor and rebar prepped for the concrete pour. The windows along the right side of the photo look out onto Ontario Street. Below, the liquid concrete is pumped into the work area through a long pipe connected to the concrete truck parked at the west side of the property.
April 13, 2011
Work is moving ahead swiftly on restoration of the first floor of the Smith Robinson Building, which will house a restaurant and other uses.
April 4, 2011
Research on history of the building uncovered these rare snaps, showing the 1968 1987 addition to the building during the construction phase. Note the price per litre of gas at the adjacent service station. The first two floors of this addition to the building, on the north side of the property, were designed in 1964, but the third and fourth floors were not added for another 20+ years.
(photos: Queen’s Archives)
March 11, 2011
This week, a new concrete floor was poured on a section of the building’s first level, on the south side. This space is the future home of a restaurant that will feature stunning views of City Hall and Princess Street from a row of towering stone archway windows.
March 9, 2011
Significant work is underway to reconfigure the sub-level and the first floor of the structure to provide an expansive open space for a restaurant and other retail uses that will front on Princess and Ontario streets.
March 7, 2011
Did you know that the Commercial Mart building pre-dates Kingston City Hall? Architect George Browne, who designed both buildings, completed work on the Commercial Mart first. The large stone addition that includes the rounded corner was completed in 1841. Kingston City Hall was not completed until 1844. The Commercial Mart building is designated as being of architectural and historical significance. The original section of the structure, erected around 1820, is one of the earliest major commercial buildings in the city.