Upper Richmond Village

[ericlewis91]

http://www.auburndev.com/index.php?cID=70


"Upper Richmond Village has everything to meet the needs of the discerning home buyer. In this friendly neighbourhood of open green landscapes ans elegant heritage homes, you'll find all your family needs to live life you've always dreamed of. Stroll beside a quiet stream, meet friends and family for dinner at a favourite restaurant or pub, or take the kids to the ice cream shop - all in your own close-knit community"

See photos and site plan

http://www.auburndev.com/index.php?cID=113

http://img.skitch.com/20101213-mn8uhmcym2bc8n3xbxuu88gas4.jpg

[MolsonExport]

Where is this (cross street)? Not really close knit, but rather, a collection of homes, medium rises and shopping, centred by...a parking lot. How romantic.

[ericlewis91]

The north west side of Richmond/Sunningdale

[MolsonExport]

Ah ha, more greenfield development. This is great news for the marginal commercial areas that replete the city of London (sarcasm).

[MolsonExport]

Let's predict the shops/Restaurants.

1. shoppers drug fart
2. Tim hortons
3. mcdonald's
4. Rogers and/or Bell and/or Telus
5. Little Caesar's pizza
6. Boston Pizza
7. Subway
8. BMO
9. Shell/Petro-Can
10. Starfucks
11. Magiccuts
12. some crappy vitamin store

...

[haljackey]

:previous:

Yep, that just about sums it up. :notacrook:

[Highinthesky]

Not overly exciting is it?

[ericlewis91]

its better then another "smart centre development"

has some low density and higher density

I think its a neat area!

[Simpseatles]

Not too shabby!

Is some of that GTA high density sprawl mentality starting to seep over here?

Yes, it is not good for retailers in other areas, but at least:
1) The parking lot isn't facing the road!
2) The stores are not quite boring looking slabs!
3) It's an attempt to create an urban retail feel with pedestrian's not just being an afterthought!
4) Apartments that face the street are thrown into the mix, so this isn't just an affluent detatched home area!

Although not perfect, this is certainly better than any suburban development in a while!:cheers:

[ForestryW]

I don't know about London, but in K-W Auburn has a bad track record of actually building things. They like to talk big, build small.

Any idea when any part of this is supposed to break ground (I imagine it will be in phases)?

[ericlewis91]

I don't know about London, but in K-W Auburn has a bad track record of actually building things. They like to talk big, build small.

Any idea when any part of this is supposed to break ground (I imagine it will be in phases)?

the housing parts are already being developed (I saw the land being developed a few weeks ago

hopefully they widen sunningdale to 4 lanes soon!

[manny_santos]

the housing parts are already being developed (I saw the land being developed a few weeks ago

hopefully they widen sunningdale to 4 lanes soon!

I predict it'll be widened in time for the 2040 Olympics.

[MolsonExport]

^just a year or so after they widen Hyde Park (nothing hidden, and no park...jekyll and hyde?)

[bolognium]

A step in the right direction I guess. Like said above, at least the parking is hidden.

One thing that caught my eye was "elegant heritage homes." How many older homes are around that area? I'm never up there so I really have no idea what that neighbourhood is like.

[Snark]

Artist's renderings of proposed developments are always prettier than the ultimate development that get built. It's a sales tool, and often there is a lot of bait and switch that happens.

Take a good look at the actual draft plan of subdivision: already it is radically different from the rendering - and much more typical. Note especially how the wonderful park shown in the rendering is significantly smaller in the actual draft plan and no longer a dominant feature of the development. Note as well how the rendering shows some sort of clock tower feature in the centre of the retail portion. In the actual plan this has been replaced by an additional big box store. The biggest change however is the total replacement of the single family residential aspect of the development as shown in the rendering with townhouses. Over 40% of the entire first phase of the development (the rendering shows only the first phase) is now townhouses, and there is no single family residential at all in the development until the second phase. The sales pitch says: "you'll find all your family needs to live life you've always dreamed of". Funny, I've never dreamed of raising a family in a townhouse or apartment tower beside 6 hectares of parking lot and big box outlets. But maybe that's just me.

Although the retail portion will no doubt be more upscale in appearance due to the nature of the housing market in that part of town, it's still just a standard greenfield development anchored by a big box retail plaza, surrounded by apartment towers and townhouses, and then ringed with single family residential. It's been done this way for 40 or more years (the only change being that in earlier years it was a shopping mall that was the retail anchor of the development - now it's a big box plaza).

Although the buildings that comprise this development - both residential and retail - may be visually nicer than an average development, this development is not a game-changer in any way.