London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[SlickFranky]

I never really understood the plans for VMP. Why do they keep insisting we need a freeway there?

I 100% approved of the upgrades they made to get it to the current state. Airport rd was not suitable for expanded industrial growth in that area. The current road serves that purpose very well, and offers better 401-Airport access.

That said, what is the point of a grade-separated freeway along this corridor? Let's even pretend they extended it past Fanshawe and swung it west (between Medway and Sunningdale) connecting with Wonderland. Who would benefit from this massively expensive project? North-Londoners heading to 401E would...anyone else??

There have to be a hundred better uses for that $230M.

[MolsonExport]

^well, you know they want to shave 10 minutes off of the time for trucks to access the industrial zones of Eastern London. I also see no logic with making VMP a freeway. The Western part of London is where all the growth is. How about a freeway along the Western Fringe?

[MolsonExport]

25 thousand square foot Smart Centre retail development

This is about the size of a typical Future Shop or Toys R Us. perhaps a digit is missing?

[MolsonExport]

I am quoted in the LFP today.

[LondnPlanr]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I am quoted in the LFP today.

Care to elaborate?

[SlickFranky]

and expose his secret identity?!

[MolsonExport]

^heh, heh. I guess I am reluctant to do just that. It is no big deal anyway...I get my name in the papers relatively often given my career.

[QuantumLeap]

By JONATHAN SHER

In the battle over how London grows, combat reached the street level last night as politicians, developers and planners fought over the design of future city neighbourhoods.

The city's planning committee was split down the middle, leaving the crucial issue to council when it meets next Monday.

When it comes to designing subdivisions, city hall has made sure the streets drain and the toilets flush -- but that's not enough, city planner John Fleming said.

"Really what we're talking about is the soul of the community," Fleming said.

He's calling for guidelines that:


- Integrate natural features such as hills and trees rather than bulldoze them.

- Design streets to promote walking and cycling rather than the use of automobiles.

- Reject cookie-cutter housing and instead use a mix of styles, sizes and building densities to attract a broader range of dwellers.

- Create public spaces that are easily accessed and enjoyed.

- Consider the pros and cons of grid-like streets, overnight parking and rear laneways that clear streets of garages and driveways.

For three years, city planners have tried to change what they called the culture of development -- but it was clear yesterday their effort has fallen short with some.

"As a group, (developers) don't embrace change all that readily," said Rob Panzer, the city's general manager of planning.

The London Development Institute asked council to delay action until city hall spells out how new designs will be engineered and at what cost -- a request planners fear would further delay implementation.

"We think it's a good idea, but it will take a lot of work to get there," said Steve Janes, president of the development institute.

No action should be considered until January when the city implements a new process meant to streamline development applications, he said.

Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen warned the new guidelines could drive up housing prices.

"Once we go down this road, is the conventional subdivision dead?" he asked.

Coun. Roger Caranci agreed, saying developers were the city's "biggest partner" since they invest the resources and risk their futures on new subdivisions.

"It behooves us to listen to the group that is most affected," he said.

Coun. Nancy Branscombe sees it differently -- starting with whom she sees as her partner. "My biggest partners are the citizens I represent."

Branscombe accused Caranci, Van Meerbergen and Controller Bud Polhill of "stalling" the process.

"We're so far behind other municipalities," she said.

Developers say Londoners don't want the new design elements, but city staff point to a survey that found most wanted them even if it meant paying a "slight premium."

[london2020]

I think the VMP is our "bridge to nowhere." We need to increase Wellington, Commissioners, Fanshawe Park, Wonderland, Oxford, and parts of Richmond, Bradley, and Southdale, Adelaide, Wharncliffe and Highbury to six lanes before we worry about a ring road.

Oh, and lets not forget making Hyde Park, Sarnia, Windermere, Gainsborough, Killally, and parts of Comissioners four lanes!

Land SHOULD be set aside for a ring road NOW, but the actual project is not a priority currently.

[SlickFranky]

Man, it's almost crazy when you see all the roads that need expanding in one shot like that...and they all need it. I'm so glad I don't drive anymore. Sell your car, walk to work, and smile at all the commuters bottlenecked on one of those roads.

But seriously, even if all that work gets done, it's not a proper solution. Adding lanes is only temporary...lanes get filled faster than they can be built. Increasing capacity essentially increases demand. The only real solution is decreasing the number of vehicles on those roads, and we all know how that could be accomplished....moving sidewalks!! Or rapid transit, but that's so boring.

[doug rogers]

Try greater density and a good public transit system.

[QuantumLeap]

726-748 Dundas Street - The purpose and effect of the proposed amendment is to permit the construction an 8-storey mixed use residential/commercial building with an increase in the permitted density of the site to accommodate 150 residential units and a reduction in the minimum front yard depth. Possible amendment to the Zoning By-law Z.-1 FROM a Business District Commercial Special Provision (BDC(19)-D250-H46) Zone which permits a broad range commercial uses and residential uses TO a Business District Commercial Special Provision Bonus (BDC(_)-B-(_)) Zone to increase the permitted density of the site and reduce the minimum front yard depth. In the alternative, Council may also consider an amendment to the Zoning By-law Z.-1 TO a Business District Commercial Special Provision (BDC(_)-D470-H46) Zone to increase the permitted density of the site and reduce the minimum front yard depth.
File: Z-7544 Planner: Michael Tomazincic

*This proposal is an expansion of the original proposal, and would see the entire NW corner of Dundas and English, including the Embassy, redeveloped.

[ForestryW]

In terms of neighbourhood design: all that's needed is for one developer to take a risk and deviate from the standard model of London suburbs. When that happens and they succeed (which they will) other developers will follow. But for now it looks like they're going to stick with the safe cookie-cutter developments that every Londoner wants, pardon the sarcasm.

[london2020]

Earlier I said it probably wasn't a smart move, but after spending some time in bigger cities I'm having second thoughts......

Should London have an intra-city elevated expressway or two?

Seems like it would be a hell of a lot more useful than then VMP.

Link Highbury to Wonderland (7 or 8 KM) and Fanshawe to 401 (14 KM).

Seriously... why are we spending so much on the VMP?

[VectorBoy]

Taco Del Mar is now open at Galleria; providing a much needed alternative to Subway and Golden Wok.


Arby's is apparently supposed to be open end of november, but who knows if they'll hit that schedule.

They've officially been closed for an entire year, since they shut doors on Dundas.

[QuantumLeap]

I got a chance to look at the proposal on the North side of Dundas today. I don't know how to upload images, but this is what I can tell you:
-proposed by Terrasan developments & designed by Arsenault architects of Toronto
-3 floor podium in "Renaissance Stone" with 9 (?) storefronts
-6 floor brick tower (above the podium, for a total of 9 floors) with steeply slanted French-style roof with dormers
-underground parking
-density of 150 units/ha - likely the building will be about 50 units

Somebody please tell me how I can post these pix!

[Snark]

Agreed! Why not let constructive ME comments speak for all instead:

heh, heh. I guess I am reluctant to do just that. It is no big deal anyway...I get my name in the papers relatively often given my career.

Speaking for myself, I feel eminently qualified to comment on such phenomena

I am quoted in the LFP today
I have appeared on A-Morning a couple of times (interviewed...I am in academia). Oh well, there is still the LFP

I have no idea what the cost would be.

<deleted>

Sorry, I was barely awake, and I just tune out of all the bad news of late, for the sake of my sanity.

Landmark? Looks like a pile of shit.

A mountain of locusts? Change the name. Likewise, would you want to live on Cheapside (major street in London).

Middlesex (what the hell is this, a hermaphrodite?)

Yeah, aren't they vile?

I am glad, then. So that I will not have to waste my time instructing such retarded deadbeats.

Take London (ON), multiply it by 10, and maybe then, you would have something that could, very possibly, be a candidate for world-class.

Not the Shriners thing again. Fer fvcksakes, when will it ever end?

It's the new building for West Park Baptist Church (currently near Wonderland & Hyde Park Rd.). Damn. Not another one.

London has long ceased being a head-office city, to being a back-office city.

Whats the news of the new Walfart that is supposed to go up at Sprawldale and unWonderland?

Man, the Galleria has gotta be one of the biggest urban disasters in Canada. I was there yesterday...unfuckingbelievable how empty the place is.

A veritable ghostown of a mall, with more than 40 vacant stores to better serve you!

overmalled....but Westmount will still be a mall? Sounds like the managers are lacking a solid strategy. If I were a tenant in the mall, I would be worried.

The "rebirth" of the Galleria is rather like a woman experiencing 72 months of gestation followed by 24 months of labour.

could this be the first signs of Masonville mall going the way of Westmount mall??

Nice, but I hear that they do not serve BEER at Labatt Park...extremely ironic and moronic.

allow Labatt park to serve beer...and I will go to see London Majors games.

Wharnecliffe is going down the toilet. At least half of it (from Oxford to Commissioners) sits at the bottom of the bowl, with the other turds. A charming slice of East London in western London.

YEAH! more commie-blocks!

I am getting pissed off at the so-called leaders of London.

Nostalgia for the status quo = today's london leadership = mediocrity

yup: london planners/council-->think small.

I have to agree that the current administration really comes up short in their 'vision' for what London ought to aspire to.

London busses are horrible. They smell, have no seats, and constantly lurch. Not to mention, the schedules, and the asinine amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B

very overdue. I can't understand why they rezone/develop areas prior to improving the infrastructure.

too bad that it will probably be years before it goes back up again for phase II

More bad news for London. The daily dose

For Gawd's sake, London has only 2 complete East-West and North-South roads:
East-West: Fanshawe Park Road and Oxford
North-South: Wonderland and Highbury.
That's it. Everything else does not go through all the way.

Council should wake up...given the lousy local economy, taxpayers are not feeling generous, and frankly, a little tired of property (et al.) tax increases that have long outstripped inflation

London has the third-busiest airport in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver. Really? Ahead of Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc.? Must be freight. Would like to see the supporting statistics.

thats a tall proposal for a shitsville corner. Love to see it happen....but in this market?

Visonary. 30 years, I will be approaching 70. I can then look forward to a quick way to Fanshawe Park Road. Yay.

Any info on the proposed Walfart at Exeter and Wonderland Rd. South?

Does the Ash Borer also eat jobs? I ask because the London area has lost so many in the past 6 months.

Weird. Hope that it is better than the aborted pseudo-freeway blip that is Highbury Ave.

I think that London's city planners look towards the 905 area as an urban model, rather than say, more concise urban fabrics like those found in Europe.

Looks like a run-down 70's era Las Vegas motor inn.

Quite frankly, who gives two-shits what Jack Layton says?

And the commie-blocks keep-a-comin' in London, esp. in the Oxford-Wonderland area.
I'd rather have no construction, than more of those ugly commie-blocks. Parts of London could easily pass for Irkutsk or Dniepreprovetsk.

I am not too impressed, having bought a home in the neighborhood.

Not again.

Good, but if it happens, I will eat my shoes.
I refer to them as Dumbcentres.

Ultra 80s, Ultra Smell (Bell) Canada. Smell has a building like this in every single major city in Canada.

This actually looks pretty good. I was in the area this weekend past, and it currently is about as gritty and shitty as anywhere in the country.

Yeah, just what I expected, city council is totally in cahoots with the big box sprawl developers. Who gives a shit if inner London looks like shit,

Yeah, I live about 1 km from that shitty bridge. and cross it from time to time. It is the Marie-Anne de Cicco way: rezone, build, but do not expand the infrastructure.

More of Anne-Marie's "Best and Brightest" (aka, highest salaries and sick-days, and moreover, mediocre results

yep. exactly. anyone else, it would be front-page news. And you'd think, "wow, the mayor's husband...for sure the LFP will have something"...but it is buried like a skeleton in the closet.

And while we are at it, how on earth did Best get the exemption for that lousy deck/patio along Richmond? Fishy, fishy.

What do you all think about the Mayor's husband's little adventure last saturday? Must be pretty damned embarassing for Anne-Marie, to say the least.

Same shit they smoked when they decided to bury the drunk-driving adventure of Mr. A-M deC-Best.

No news on Mr. AMdeC-Best? Still got his drivers' license, I presume?

If he got drunk (and then drove) in his own bar...could he be at risk of losing his liquor license? Did you sit out on the cheapo patio at Friday Fright Nites?

Not because of, but despite the current administration on dufferin st.

[LondnPlanr]

Originally Posted by QuantumLeap

I got a chance to look at the proposal on the North side of Dundas today. I don't know how to upload images, but this is what I can tell you:
-proposed by Terrasan developments & designed by Arsenault architects of Toronto
-3 floor podium in "Renaissance Stone" with 9 (?) storefronts
-6 floor brick tower (above the podium, for a total of 9 floors) with steeply slanted French-style roof with dormers
-underground parking
-density of 150 units/ha - likely the building will be about 50 units

Somebody please tell me how I can post these pix!

You have to use another website such as Imageshack to host the images, and then post the link that it gives you after you upload the images to that site.

Where did you see the renderings for this proposal?

[drjohnnyfever]

Does anybody know who owns the remnants of the old 'Wally World'... behind the new Home Depot? Is it Southside Group, and part of their Westmount area development plans... or just a narrow strip of land in limbo that will be challenging to develop?

[MolsonExport]

all i know is that the sign for Wally World is still there on Southdale.