WINDSOR | Construction - News and Development

[arnold]

500 ouellette?... which building is that again?

definatly some great news for the core.

[upinottawa]

Isn't 500 Ouellette the nice one...? I believe it backs on to the Tunnel Complex.

[Happy Habib]

10 double duplexes planned for former Grace site
Dave Hall, Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Demolition of the former Grace Hospital and construction of 10 double-duplexes on a portion of the site could both start as early as mid-summer, said representatives of the contracting company planning the project which may eventually include 30,000 square feet of commercial space.

Lou Vozza, owner of L.V. Concorde Contracting, said his company’s crews are in the building carrying out an asbestos abatement program and once that’s complete, “we’ll be applying for a demolition permit and hope to start bringing it down by June.”

Construction of the commercial component could start by next year, said Vozza who added that he’s already had interest from potential tenants but declined to name them.


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Font: ****On the residential portion of the project, Concorde’s Doug Hemstreet said the proposal will go before the city’s committee of adjustment next month and then must go through the site plan control process.
“If all goes well, we could start construction by summer and finish by next spring,” said Hemstreet.

The residential units will be constructed on the former hospital’s parking lot.

Coun. Ron Jones, who represents Ward 2 in which the proposed development lies, said “we’ve been talking about attracting more people into the core but this plan appears somewhat different than earlier plans I was made aware of and I’m anxious to see them.”

Jones also said the addition of a No Frills grocery store at Crawford and Wyandotte Street West and a new Tim Hortons planned for the neighbourhood means “traffic will be an issue I’m sure.

“But you can’t have increased residential and commercial development without traffic,” said Jones.

Plans filed with the City of Windsor, which still need committee of adjustment approval, call for building five double-duplexes on the existing parking lot facing Crawford Avenue and another five facing Oak Avenue.

Each rental unit would be about 900 square feet and no prices have been determined.

Vozza was unable to put a value on the development but said it would be in the “tens of millions by the time it’s complete.

“It’s taken a long time to put something together but it’s been a matter of waiting for the pieces to fall into place,” said Vozza.

Hemstreet said the developers hope to allay concerns about building residential properties on the site by “creating a landscaped buffer zone to separate one part of the property from the other.”

Jones said “I’m confident the neighbours will have an opinion on this project and we will have to be really vigilant to ensure it’s what will best suit the neighbourhood.”

The plans for commercial development spanning the block between Oak and Crawford along University include one 20,180-square foot space, another with 2,370 square feet and five smaller spaces each encompassing 1,500 square feet.

Vozza and business partner Tom Kaschalk bought the former hospital site for $800,000 in 2004 from the Salvation Army’s national headquarters.
In 2006, the pair listed it for sale for $2.5 million but later took it off the market.

[email protected] or 519-255-5777, ext. 408

[arnold]

Originally Posted by Happy Habib

The plans for commercial development spanning the block between Oak and Crawford along University include one 20,180-square foot space, another with 2,370 square feet and five smaller spaces each encompassing 1,500 square feet.

... so, a strip mall. i'm not a big fan of those, but i guess that part of the city really needs something to fill the void.

lots of development news for the city lately. that's pretty good news.

[Blitz]

Hopefully those duplexes don't look too suburban. But frankly, any type of development in that part of town would be welcome right about now.

Yeah, the 500 Ouellette building is the "nice" one.

[arnold]

Originally Posted by Blitz

Hopefully those duplexes don't look too suburban. But frankly, any type of development in that part of town would be welcome right about now.

yeikes... that sounds like detroit talk!



and when you say that 500 ouellette ave is the 'nice' one, do you mean the all stucco beast with the bookstore on the ground floor?

either way, 500 people spilling out into the street looking for lunch everyday will definatley have an impact on the downtown scene, which is good, because it looks like it could use some perking up. when i was in town a few months back, i had a hell of a time finding a good place to sit down and grab some lunch. most places were either closed or kind of shady looking... i settled for chinoso's (sp?) which was packed with buisness types.

[Blitz]

Yeah, 500 is the stuccoized one - which I know you hate - but it beats the hell out of many other buildings downtown.

Sounds like Project Ice Track is pretty much dead --- take that Tecumseh!

[upinottawa]

The IceTrack article from today's Star. For the record, I have nothing against Tecumseh's plan to build a decent arena. However, I do have a problem with the Mayor's plan to lure the slots and raceway (and the tax revenue it provided the City of Windsor) away from the central city in order to fund the building of a fancy new arena.

That being said, the AHL franchise did not appear to be well thought out (especially since the plan was to rely on substantial numbers of American hockey fans to attend the games).

Arena deal faces critical deadline
Gary Rennie, Windsor Star

Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2007

TECUMSEH - With a major deadline looming Saturday, the $55-million Project Ice Track deal with Tecumseh could collapse.

After a three-hour closed meeting Tuesday, Mayor Gary McNamara emerged to say the deadline hadn't been extended, but talks with the Ice Track owners were continuing.

"That's all I'm going to say at this juncture," McNamara said.

Project Ice Track is supposed to buy 135 acres of land now owned by the town on Manning Road, north of Highway 401, for about $2 million.

The money would go to a group of previous owners to settle their outstanding appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board over the price paid by the town when it expropriated about 300 acres of farmland and a large woodlot from them in 2002.

Ed Chauvin, one of the owners, said the town is still talking to Project Ice Track.

A short delay in finalizing the deal isn't a big concern to Chauvin.

But if there's going to be a significant delay, Chauvin said his group will consider going back to the OMB and settling the issue of what the land is worth.

If the board agrees with Chauvin's group, the town could be forced to pay the $2 million.

Mayors in neighbouring Lakeshore and Essex, who have been asked to participate in the project, are also wondering what's going on.

Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain, whose town got a pitch in mid-December about the project, said not much has been said since.

The town, which is interested in buying some ice time, was promised a firm timetable for the project would be unveiled early in 2007.

Bain said he had a casual conversation recently with McNamara about the project but not much had changed.

Essex Mayor Ron McDermott said he hasn't heard anything from the project's owners or Tecumseh in over a month.

His town could be making decisions of its own during the next few weeks about building a new arena to replace Essex Memorial Arena. Buying some ice time in the Ice Track project was an option council wanted to explore, McDermott said.

Official plan changes and zoning amendments are needed for the Tecumseh lands as well as extension of sanitary sewage services and water.

Tecumseh was to borrow $15 million to contribute to the $55-million project, plus pay the estimated $5 million cost of providing water and sewer services.

The town will recoup its costs from its share of slots revenue, expected to be about $2.4 million annually, plus development charges and municipal taxes.

As originally announced, Ice Track was to include a replacement track and grandstand for Windsor Raceway, a 6,500-seat spectator arena, one or two community arenas, a Wayne Gretzky restaurant and museum, a hotel and possibly other commercial developments.

The original goal was to have the arena open in 2008, but efforts to lock in an anchor tenant, such as an AHL franchise, have so far failed.

Chris Kruba, lawyer for the Ice Track Project, couldn't be reached Tuesday.

[email protected]




© The Windsor Star 2007

[yupislyr]

am800 is now saying Ice Track is a done deal.

DEAL DONE SAYS ICE TRACK 2007-03-28 16:21:08

Project Ice Track says the deal is done for property it requires to build the arena raceway project along Manning Road north of the 401. The developer of the $55-million complex says it has purchased the 140 acres it requires from a numbered Ontario company. Spokesperson Chris Kruba says the deal closes at the end of next month and it avoids the Town of Tecumseh's expropriation of that property. The town responded that its agreement with Ice Track remains in place and conditions must be met before the transaction proceeds. The town says it will not comment further until April 1.

Who knows with these guys. Always differing stories.

[upinottawa]

Someone should tell John Tory that if he promises to move 1000 provincial jobs to Windsor he will win at least one seat in the Windsor area this October.


Jobs would boost city

Gord Henderson, Windsor Star
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007

During a recent media scrum at the Caboto Club, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty dismissed the idea of transferring provincial jobs from booming Toronto to depressed areas like Windsor as an outdated non-starter.

What he meant, of course, is that he doesn't need the grief of dealing with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and its pampered Toronto members who would recoil in collective horror at the prospect of being exiled to the back of the moon, i.e. Windsor, a place more remote, primitive and deprived of the essentials of modern life -- like a decent latte -- (at least in their big city jaundiced eyes) than even Scarborough.

We've been through this before. In the late 1980s, the David Peterson Liberal government announced a decentralization plan that involved shifting 5,100 jobs out of Toronto to troubled regions, including a transfer of the Ministry of Labour and 425 jobs to a proposed $45-million headquarters in downtown Windsor.

It was viewed as a lifesaver for Windsor's struggling core and when the NDP regime of Bob Rae unexpectedly seized power in 1990, it renewed the pledge to bring those well-paid white-collar jobs here.

But the provincial workers were having none of it. They sulked. They bitched. They howled. They railed. They whined. They whinged. They stamped their professionally manicured feet. The government, facing mass hysteria within its workforce, bent over backward to persuade its employees that moving to Windsor wouldn't be the end of the world.

It brought them down here, put them up in our best hotels, plied them with food and drink, ferried them around to upscale neighbourhoods like Southwood Lakes and introduced them to Windsor's most charming movers and shakers. None of it worked. You can't see far with your nose in the air and these folks saw nothing on their red-carpet "familiarization" tours that could make them consider parting with their beloved T.O.

In the spring of 1993, the NDP government, hugely unpopular with labour over its Rae Days and other cost-cutting policies, threw in the towel. Anxious to buy peace at any price with Toronto-dominated public sector unions, it cancelled the decentralization program, to the huge relief of its crybaby workforce, and jettisoned plans for the Windsor ministry headquarters that had already been tendered.

Fourteen years later, Tory Leader John Tory has revived the decentralization concept with his proposal to move some government operations out of high-cost downtown Toronto to struggling northern and rural regions.

As Tory explained in a speech to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce: "If we made it possible for just one per cent of the government office space in Toronto to be relocated to Thunder Bay, it would mean 500 jobs for the north."

No question about it. The north needs all the help it can get to avoid becoming a ghost region. But that holds true as well for Windsor.

Coun. Ron Jones seized on the decentralization theme last week in an interview with The Star's Grace Macaluso. He wants the city to push the province, through our cabinet ministers, for a fair share of civil service jobs and will raise the issue at council Monday.

"We are in a desperate situation here in Windsor. We are in crisis. And that's even more reason why the provincial government should be looking at this," Jones told me Wednesday. "Stand up for us. And see this for the opportunity it is." That's his advice for Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello. He said the two ministers "have the influence and the ability" to deliver provincial jobs for Windsor.

Speaking of opportunities, local developer Lou Mikhail, who, with his brother Joe, was instrumental in luring Global Sutherland Inc. to Windsor, said a trong business case could be made for moving government jobs here.

Instead of spending $50 a square foot on downtown Toronto office space, Mikhail said, the province could lease all the space it needs here for $8 a square foot. And there's plenty available. He estimates the real downtown office vacancy rate is a staggering 50 per cent.

For government employees, if they could get past the nonsense they've read about Windsor, it would mean a real estate windfall, a relatively low cost of living and a five-minute commute instead of two hours of misery.

And if they still won't transfer? Too darn bad. Have fun job hunting. "If you don't want to come, people in Windsor will be lined up around the block to take your position," said Mikhail.

Indeed they would.

[email protected]

© The Windsor Star 2007

[Blitz]

Yeah, we all know it'll never happen though. Having Essex-Kent-Lambton break away to form our own province is another (unlikely) idea, though I wouldn't mind if it happened.

[arnold]

holy crap... do i ever hate gord henderson's way-over-the-top writing style! i mean, i can't believe that he gets paid good money for this hyperbole-ific junk! what a waste of column space...

but the idea of relocating some government jobs to the outlying regions is one that i believe deserves some study. it sure would help-out some of the more battered parts of the province... and isn't that a part of what the government is there to do?

[westerntragedy]

Originally Posted by arnold

holy crap... do i ever hate gord henderson's way-over-the-top writing style! i mean, i can't believe that he gets paid good money for this hyperbole-ific junk! what a waste of column space...

ha! yeah, he's just another shock jock sometimes

[y2k_pony]

you can now see the casino expansion tower from E.C row. that building is going up really quick. I counted 10 floors today.

[upinottawa]

Windsor Airport to get $2M in funding

The Windsor Star
Published: Monday, April 02, 2007

Windsor Airport will receive almost $2 million to help cover the cost of major capital improvements, Essex MP Jeff Watson announced Monday.

“Today’s announcement is another important step in ensuring the safety of our airports and the economic health of their surrounding communities,” said Watson. “This is tangible proof the Canada’s new government is prepared to invest in the safety and economic success of Ontario’s air freight and passenger services.”

The money will cover 75 per cent of the total estimated cost of $2,569,340 for the rehabilitation of taxiways F and G and replacement of the airfield lighting control panel.

The funding under the Airports Capital Assistance Project is part of more than $8 million doled out by the federal government Monday to fund eight new projects at municipal airports across Ontario.

[upinottawa]

interesting....

Epicure saved
Bridge, DRTP join forces to save popular food festival

Anne Jarvis, Windsor Star
Published: Monday, April 02, 2007

Festival Epicure has been resurrected after the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit River Tunnel Partnership announced today an unlikely partnership to sponsor the event.

Bridge president Dan Stamper and DRTP chief executive officer Mike Hurst presented a $35,000 cheque to festival executive producer Ken Brandes at the site of the event at the riverfront festival plaza.

“This is a godsend,” Brandes said after receiving the money.

Brandes said he is also negotiating with a third corporate sponsor from Windsor, but the festival will go ahead regardless, he said.

The festival, which will be July 6-8, showcases about two dozen local restaurants, wineries and a brewery and attracts about 30,000 people.

Brandes had announced March 23 that the event was cancelled because the main sponsor, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, had backed out.

The bridge and DRTP, rivals in the bid to build a third border crossing, are a strange duo, admitted Hurst, who initiated the partnership.

But he said, “It’s about stepping up to the plate, doing what needs to be done.”
The bridge and the DRTP will each contribute half the money.

[y2k_pony]

great news for the airport. It needs alot more than 2 million to upgrade the taxi ways but atleast this is a start.

Im glad that the epicure is back. I have always enjoyed going down there to listen to the great music and try some of the local dishes.

[upinottawa]

Another Windsor-Detroit sporting venture (i.e. Windsor piggybacks on another Detroit event). It is great to see that the profits (hopefully there will be profits) will benefit Belle Isle.

City to join Prix party
Detroit race promotional events to be held in Windsor

Craig Pearson, Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Detroit will host Grand Prix car racing again and, for the first time, Windsor will help.

"It will be the first international event for motor racing here, tying in Detroit and Windsor as we've done recently with other big sporting events," Roger Penske, chairman of the Downtown Detroit Partnership which is promoting the Labour Day weekend race, said Monday. "You're seeing more and more of that because people today commute between the two markets."

The Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix will offer a first of another kind: an IndyCar and a LeMans race the same weekend in the same city. The LeMans series runs on the Saturday and the IndyCar series runs on the Sunday.

Net profits will benefit Belle Isle.

The details aren't worked out, but Penske hopes to hold promotional events in Windsor leading up to the race, as well as attract some Canadian corporate sponsorship.

"We want to bring some show cars and other things to Canada and try to have some events for people in the Windsor area," Penske said. "We're trying to promote tourism and interest and I think there are a lot of people in Canada, in Montreal and Toronto, who would come to Windsor, and then come over for the race on the weekend."

Mayor Eddie Francis said that after the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix was announced, bringing the race back for the first time since 2001, he called Penske to discuss a cross-border component. Francis worked with Penske last year when the former race car driver served as chairman of the Detroit Super Bowl XL, also billed as an international event, as was Wrestlemania 23 at Ford Field on Sunday.

"So I picked up the phone and called him and said 'I'd love to build on the success of Super Bowl and make this an international event,'" Francis said. "And he loved the idea."

Francis said Windsor benefits from event partnerships with Detroit by a boost to the local economy and through increased profile.

Though Francis doesn't yet know the Windsor elements, he likes the idea of celebrity appearances and Via Rail packages that bring fans from other parts of Canada to Windsor, as happened with WrestleMania 23.

"This will be huge," Francis said of the Grand Prix partnership. "We're trying to create an international flavour to these world-class events in a way that showcases the region. A city our size would never be able to put on events like this without partnering with Detroit."

DETROIT RACE CITY

The Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix returns to the Motor City. Free Prix Day, Aug. 31; American LeMans race, Sept. 1; IndyCar race, Sept. 2. Tickets range from US$15 to $100. For more information, visit detroitgp.com.




© The Windsor Star 2007

[yupislyr]

Oh, and now am800 says Project Ice Track really appears to be on the ropes, like it originally looked to be last week...

PROJECT ICE TRACK DERAILED 2007-04-03 21:39:39

Project Ice Track is off the tracks. The Town of Tecumseh has announced that an agreement with the Ice Track Corporation expired March 31st without a number of conditions being met. which includes the purchase of land at Highway 401 and Manning Road. Mayor Gary McNamara says without certain lands, the agreement can't go through.

Oh, and now am800 says Project Ice Track really appears to be on the ropes, like it originally looked to be last week...

PROJECT ICE TRACK DERAILED 2007-04-03 21:39:39

Project Ice Track is off the tracks. The Town of Tecumseh has announced that an agreement with the Ice Track Corporation expired March 31st without a number of conditions being met. which includes the purchase of land at Highway 401 and Manning Road. Mayor Gary McNamara says without certain lands, the agreement can't go through.

Although the Windsor Star says that the Ice Tracks folks are trying to make a new agreement with an extended deadline.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=f60d4423-b3c8-4fee-80f0-c828b6efac62&k=2201

So far, it looks like Windsor made the right choice. At the very least it looks like the city will handily win the race to get a new arena up.

[westerntragedy]

^ Update to that article this morning. It's funny that they list a whole host of other reasons why the project isn't going ahead, but in reality, isn't it because they have no prospects for regularly scheduled spectator hockey? Even if they do eventually reach a deal, what would they host there? Public skating?

I think it's fortunate that the whole Ice Track fiasco occurred anyhow; it got Windsor to finally come to a conclusion about the GWRASC arena. Is this possibly the kind of advancement competition we'll see between the DRIC and the Ambassador Bridge Company? The Bridge is still pushing their second span.. so will that put pressure on the DRIC to pound out a resolution before the Bridge Company gets their approvals to twin its span? I wonder....


Tecumseh puts Ice Track on ice
Project's private owners failed to meet conditions by deadline, mayor says
Gary Rennie, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, April 04, 2007

TECUMSEH - The $55-million Project Ice Track isn't going ahead in Tecumseh without a new agreement satisfactory to the town, Mayor Gary McNamara announced at a news conference Tuesday.

Ice Track Corporation was informed earlier Tuesday of the town's decision, McNamara said.

Ice Track's failure to acquire land owned by Coxon Towing adjacent to municipal property fundamentally changed the way the development was intended to proceed, the mayor said.

At the same time, the project showed no signs of getting traffic and other studies done to support rezonings of the lands needed, McNamara said.

McNamara said the town would soon be faced with some expensive decisions on how to get water and sewage services to the site.

Project Ice Track lawyer Chris Kruba disputed the town's contention that conditions to acquire property and get it rezoned hadn't been met.

He insisted efforts would continue to bring Windsor Raceway and a spectator hockey arena to municipal lands near Highway 401 and Manning Road.

NOT A CONDITION

Purchase of the Coxon lands wasn't a condition of the agreement, although the idea hasn't been dropped, Kruba told reporters outside council chambers.

He hadn't been invited to the meeting, but came with a news release of his own.

A new proposal was made Tuesday to extend the closing date with the town to deal with some of the outstanding issues, Kruba said. "We're completely committed to the project," he said.

McNamara said the town's last meeting with Ice Track proponents was March 8, but issues jeopardizing the agreement had been festering before that.

The town was troubled by the lack of a "site-holder agreement" between Ice Track and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission (OLG) which would be necessary to operate slots in Tecumseh, McNamara said.

"No slots, no Ice Track project," said McNamara.


© The Windsor Star 2007