Kanata vs Orleans

[reidjr]

I live right near kanata and i know how much its growing massive amount of stores etc.My question is what about orleans are they much the same.

[AznHalf]

Orleans is growing! It is undergoing a huge transformation around the Innes Rd area ... in fact an Empire theatre is even being built - so that is 2 theatres in Orleans now. It's just box store central there, about 5km of box stores.

In my view Orleans, although housing prices are cheaper than a similar house in Kanata, is in a better location than Kanata. Driving downtown is shorter than Kanata and highway on ramps are all only about a 7 min drive from any suburb area.

[Norman Bates]

I've lived ten years in Orleans, in the Convent Glen North neighborhood and 17 years in the Briddlewood neighborhood of Kanata.

Orleans has its advantages. Access to the Queensway is certainly one. But there are some things about Orleans that don't sit quite as well with me. The planning nightmare that is St. Joseph Blvd. and Innes Rd., the lack of a hospital, the roads that always seem unnecessarily bumpy, etc. And when riding public transit I notice a lot of people in uniforms commuting from Orleans. Orleans also benefits from a vibrant francophone community.

Whereas at times Kanata seems to suffer from a superiority complex, particularly the part North of the Queensway. The shopping is poor, but getting better. Being in the West, you're always driving into the sun in the morning and again at night. Anglophones dominate, but there are French-language schools. It too lacks a hospital but the QCH is handier than the Montfort.

Overall it comes down to personal preference. If you came from Montreal you'd likely prefer Orleans whereas Torontonians may lean towards Kanata.

[reidjr]

Does orleans have anything like the kanata centrum or are there stores just all over the place.Aslo what is some of the new devlopment on and around innes road.

[Exceed]

Orleans does not have the benefit of the expanded Queensway like Kanata does now. Yes, it may be marginally closer to downtown but it is still a city highway.

Kanata has a broader business base and more jobs within the community. The majority of people in Orleans need to commute out of the town to work in downtown and other places in the City of Ottawa.

Orleans does not have a shopping mall like the Centrum but that is just personal preference. If you like a mall like Centrum, then Kanata is your place to be. Innes Rd has many new big box malls. If commuting from on mall to the other is your preference then Orleans is your place to be. The Kanata Centrum area is still poised for more growth with approx 2.1 million sq ft of retail in the works. The Centrum is not car friendly with its confusing road network but maybe that was the idea. Personally, I prefer shopping at Bayshore.

[Dado]

Kanata doesn't have any malls... it has Kanata Centrum (however you want to describe that) and the strip malls of Hazeldean Rd. Orleans has a mall in the guise of Place d'Orléans and its own strip malls on St. Joseph.

[reidjr]

Kanata doesn't have any malls... it has Kanata Centrum (however you want to describe that) and the strip malls of Hazeldean Rd. Orleans has a mall in the guise of Place d'Orléans and its own strip malls on St. Joseph.

Kanata does have the hazelden mall plus bayshore just a quick drive away as well as a good number of strip malls all around kanata plus a fair number of box stores.

[harls]

..And when riding public transit I notice a lot of people in uniforms commuting from Orleans.


I noticed that too.. my uncle used to live in Orleans and on his street there were a lot of army types renting out houses (my uncle included). I don't know if it had to do with people being stationed at CFB Rockcliffe (this was before it closed..)

[Norman Bates]

I noticed that too.. my uncle used to live in Orleans and on his street there were a lot of army types renting out houses (my uncle included). I don't know if it had to do with people being stationed at CFB Rockcliffe (this was before it closed..)I think that the Eastern location of Rockliffe base may be a factor as well as NDHQ's slightly Easterly tilt. At the end of the day, birds of a feather flock together, and when transferred into a new city you may be inclined to live where many of your colleagues live.

Other uniforms would include those from the RCMP who are also based in the near East-end and Orleans.

On NDHQ I was told that Treasury Board wanted to move the whole CF workforce out of downtown and into the old JDS Uniphase campus in Barrhaven. The problem was that a large portion of the workforce was living in Orleans and that there was considerable resistance to the proposed move.

So what happened? Well the only people lower on the totem pole that the CF - the RCMP - got moved there. I guess the Mounties have been making due in that former religious institution for far too long.