Quote:
Originally Posted by ADLS
It’s been some time since I posted and am curious about new developments in Thunder Bay. We no longer live there but am still interested in seeing new construction in the area. Would someone be interested in posting what’s happening, construction wise, in and around the city? Thank you.
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I have no photos, but here's a rough list of current notables:
- New Thunder Bay Art Gallery at Prince Arthur's Landing (aka Marina Park), structural framing & concrete work ongoing.
- New Thunder Bay Correctional facility on Highway 61, ongoing major project
-~100 Apartment development at Golf Links & Riviera Drive, one building complete with tenants moving in, one nearly framed up, retail strip mall portion still being worked on
- Hyatt Place hotel on Oliver near the Expressway is almost framed up
- 78 Unit Apartment on Fulton Drive (behind Chartwell) is being framed
- Numerous smaller multi-units on Junot (between Red River & John St.) at various stages of construction
- New aircraft hangar at the airport is going up slowly, I believe for North Star Air
- Foundation for new commercial building on Carrick is being poured, other lots nearby have been cleared in preparation for future development
- Long stalled Thunder Bay Country Club multi-unit shell is going up next year apparently... will believe it when it actually begins. It will be an apartment building with a large number of units (by T-Bay standards)
- Construction of a few retail units is ongoing at Harbour Crossing, on Fort William Road by Intercity Mall
- Next phase of Parkdale Development (Bruin St.) is steadily filling in with single detached houses, I wouldn't say its booming though.
- On-going re-purposing of the former Grandview Lodge seniors home into the Matawa Training & Wellness Centre, a multi-year, multi-phase project that has somewhat flown under the radar here in terms of scope & size.
- OAHS Transitional Housing project on Junot, and OAHS housing project on Huron
- A couple construction unions have upcoming training centre additions (I believe sheet metal workers, and boilermakers?), provincially funded to increase skills readiness in the region
- Halfway Motors Nissan addition on Memorial Ave.
- Infrastructure and streetscape rebuild of Red River Road in downtown Port Arthur is wrapping up... TBD yet whether this will help generate additional spin-off activity in this way underutilized and mismanaged business & entertainment district.
Upcoming:
- Thunder Bay Cardiovascular surgery expansion at the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital, bidding closed recently, should begin construction in the new year. This is a large expansion of the hospital, off the existing entrance
- Significant re-build of power generation infrastructure at Kakabeka Falls OPG hydroelectric power station, beginning imminently
- Ontario Ministry of Transportation is re-studying the Highway 11/17 corrider to Kakabeka Falls area for future four-laning. There will likely be absolutely no movement on any actual construction until the Thunder Bay to Nipigon stretch is completed (only 2-3 sections left here though, so perhaps sooner than later!).
- Gymnasium addition to Ecole La Verendrye Secondary School
- Covered turf facility approved by the City of Thunder Bay sounds like its actually going to go soon, however, this one has had a fair number of twists and turns.
Thunder Bay exceeded its annual housing start targets again in 2024, which will make more funding available to the city to promote residential construction. Despite issues with these funding streams, they are definitely proving to be successful thus far (I don't know whether its directly, or indirectly by creating a buzz around construction). The unknown is once all these units come on line is whether there is significant enough demand for housing locally (given limited population growth) to continue the building, or if this will result only in saturation of the rental market and long-term reduction in construction. Time will tell, as its a multi-faceted question!
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