I drove down Barton the other day and almost passed out.
It's just as bad as driving on the 403 through ancaster. Exact same view - back of a bunch of garbage one-storey box stores.
What a travesty. Could have been a great streetwall.
The rest of Barton Street west of this development is streetwall, is that doing so great?
not particularly, but it has the bones in place to revitalize someday.
James North wasn't doing so good 10 years ago either. Now it is.
Barton's day will come, unless this trashy development completely kills off what's left of it first.
Plus, it's a huge street...the area over between Wentworth-Sherman should revitalize someday even if this area doesn't.
Just because an area isn't doing good isn't a good reason to ruin it further and set it back mightily.
Sorry, I thought this was the “Centre Mall” discussion place. Maybe it should be re-labelled Walmart haters. How come when we talk about a mall, strip plaza, power centre, etc Walmart comes up. They’re not even moving into the Centre.
^^ There's no second floor @ Eastgate, just overly tall!
Just like all big boxes.
u know, even if they kept everything in the back lot big box and just faced the strip of stores towards Barton, being up to the street, it would have been slightly better. It's too bad what the City let them get away with.
I didn't think the liquor store was being effected at all at the centre mall. Isn't that building staying?
The Beer Store is staying where it is. Originally the Liquor Store was to be built in front of the Barn so the Beer and Liquor Stores where across from each other. This is the Liquor Store from the Stadium Mall at Barton and Gage that is moving to the Centre.
Looks like the development is mostly parking lot with stores on the peripheries as an afterthought.
Now lets fast-forward 5 or 10 years when shoppers try to take Light Rail to Centre Mall. Good luck avoiding the cars in the maze of parking lots. I predict that as the # of car independent people go up in the next 10 years, this place will start decaying something horrible.
Looks like the Eglinton Power Centre in Scarbourough... Just needs a tall Water Tower behind it, and a few more apartment complexes...
<sarcasm>
I'm sure it will be busy!
Last edited by woreg75; Sep 9, 2008 at 12:59 AM.
Reason: spelling error
There are actually fewer parking spots in the new development than when it was an enclosed mall. And at least there are buildings along Barton and Kenilworth, compared to the sea of parking that used to face these streets.
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-George Bernard Shaw
Now lets fast-forward 5 or 10 years when shoppers try to take Light Rail to Centre Mall. Good luck avoiding the cars in the maze of parking lots. I predict that as the # of car independent people go up in the next 10 years, this place will start decaying something horrible.
Must be the active Atlantic hurricane season that has blown this thread so far off course. I'm sure there are Walmart oriented discussion boards a-plenty on the net, and I'll happily go toe-to-toe with y'all there--but even I'm uncomfortable with how far off this has gotten.
On topic--as I said prior--while there may have been modifications made to this development to make it more palatable to some--overall it's merely a redo of an existing shopping centre that has been on the site for over 50 years...prior to that it was a very pastoral thoroughbred racetrack. Therefore, saying Redcliffe is "ruining" the neighborhood or derailing redevelopment of the existing "urban" street is nonsense. The Centre Mall, as it existed, as it was developed in the 1950s is supposed to be everything that urbanists hate--that's why I'm so completely amazed by the gnashing of teeth over it's demise.
Secondly, wishing/hoping for decay in your city is proof that more than anything else, you love your politics and your agenda far more than you love your city.
I think this development is gonna be great for the area, especially if some kind of transit terminal becomes part of it in the future. I think the 41 should be changed to loop here and stop it's routing up to Burlington St. The Bayfront serves all of that area well enough. A future North/South - East Hamilton LRT/BRT route could also start here, using Kenilworth Access.
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"Above all, Hamilton must learn to think like a city, not a suburban hybrid where residents drive everywhere. What makes Hamilton interesting is the fact it's a city. The sprawl that surrounds it, which can be found all over North America, is running out of time."
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