Northern Ontario developments!

[russman]

That's really awful news about Greyhound canceling their service, not only for Northwestern Ontario but also Manitoba.

In other news, demolition of the YMCA building is expected tomorrow.
http://tbnewswatch.com/Video/Default.aspx?art_id=17499

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by russman

That's really awful news about Greyhound canceling their service, not only for Northwestern Ontario but also Manitoba.

In other news, demolition of the YMCA building is expected tomorrow.
http://tbnewswatch.com/Video/Default.aspx?art_id=17499

I definitely agree. Unfortunately, intercity buses in the region are not a long-term solution to improve things since the commuter travel is minimal and the distances are too long. Only a combination of highway and rail links will work well, such as a twinned/controlled access Highway 17 and restoration of passenger rail along the 17 corridor will work. And that is very expensive.

[vid]

Ontario Northland should be expanded to cover the entire north. Saskatchewan has a similar provincial run bus system to connect rural communities, and this is something the province should consider. If Greyhound does stop serving the region, Ontario is going to have to greatly expand the patient transport services they already have, or invest in more clinics and travelling specialists.

Improved highway links won't change much because the people taking the bus are doing so because they don't have cars. It will make driving safer but it won't make travel possible for people without personal vehicles.

Observations:

The siding on the Victoria Block was changed to something more modern (ie, less unique). The park beside the Shelterhouse is finished 'construction' and their storage building on the corner was painted red and beige to match the main building. The frame of the Great Canadian Oil Change went up yesterday. It's tiny.

[vid]

All that is left of the YMCA is half the ground floor and a hole full of rubble. It will be about two weeks before it's just an empty hole. The police station at the south end of Victoriaville looks to be almost complete. Framing is starting to go up on the new building for ABA Dental Clinic at 999 Memorial, which has been very slowly making progress for months, and landscaping work is complete at Harbour Crossing.

Quality Market Golf Links and Oliver--they want to call the area "Campus Hill"--broke ground today. The store will focus on fresh foods and packaged meals for hospital out-patients. The store will be called "Quality Market Fresh". They might close the store at County Fair citing the owners intentions but plan to stay there as long as possible, so I guess a power center type development there is possible in the future.

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/entertainment/Default.aspx?cid=65032

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by vid

The frame of the Great Canadian Oil Change went up yesterday. It's tiny.

But it is supposed to be expanded in the future to include a touchless carwash. As it is I don't think it is that much smaller than the Mr. Lube on Balmoral beside Robin's Donuts.

Scaffolding is up around the TD-Canada Trust on Red River. I hadn't heard anything about it anywhere but I suspect it is to allow for the repairs to the front facing. It's starting to separate from the building at the very top. The masonry repairs on the Armoury are proceeding at a good pace as well.

Redevelopment at County Fair is just a matter of time now - certain retailers in the mall are looking at their exit strategies. The dollar store just locked up one night and took everything out the back door. The owners aren't going to be able to keep the farce of day-to-day operations much longer.

The food court at Intercity is going to be renovated over the next two months. There will be all new furniture and tiles, as well as better lighting. It's about time - the tile that's there is still the original tile from 27 years ago.

The building that housed Payless & Danier leather at the RioCan Centre is not being torn down like I had been told. Instead there is a home-outfitting store going in that is currently renovating the interior and exterior and looking to hire right now.

[russman]

http://tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=65948

Parking plans


By Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch

Other than a slight increase in parking rates, a planned expansion of the Thunder Bay International Airport parking lot should have minimal impact on travellers, says the head of the Airport Authority.

Scott McFadden on Friday said the $1-million project should add a combined 100 long- and short-term spots to the existing 500-spot inventory and help make up a shortfall that’s been plaguing the facility for years.

He added the $7.2 million runway extension is moving full steam ahead and should be completed by mid-October.

McFadden said several parking lot expansions in the past half decade have reconfigured the space within the existing parking boundaries, but with a steady increase in traffic over the past five years, there’s no way to fit additional spaces in.

"We’re going to have to reconfigure the roads a bit out in front of the terminal building to create more space," McFadden said, adding he’d like to get started on the work as soon as the design work is complete.

"We’re still hoping to liberate some more parking before the busier winter season comes along."

Visitors to the airport will notice two major changes when work is completed.

McFadden said the entrance to the parking lot will be reconfigured to make it more convenient and to make better use of the space in that area.

"The other major change will be that the terminal frontage road will continue west. Where it currently turns south and heads back to Round Boulevard, it will continue west. Where the street is now, that will become parking, as well as what is now paving stones and space between the road and the current parking lot," McFadden said, adding passenger volumes are up again in 2009, a trend he expects will continue.

That could lead to offsite parking expansion in the future, McFadden said, given that there is no further room to add additional spaces after the current project is done.

"We’re looking at other possibilities for the future. They may involve creating something like an economy lot that is a little further away from the building," he said.

Construction is already under way for the runway extension, a project that had to be downsized when the federal government did not include it on a list of infrastructure project during its recent stimulus spending blitz.

McFadden said because the bids came in lower that expected the Airport Authority has been able to increase the length of the extension to 340 metres, and it will allow them to build a portion of the taxiway alpha extension.

As a result the instrument landing system has been rendered inoperable, but McFadden it should be up and running soon, and that it’s caused minimal flight delays, thanks in part to good weather.

Also, there is some renovation work on the exterior of Grandview Mall, does anyone have any info about this?

Also, I was checking out the website for the Heart of the Harbour and came across this picture:

In the picture on the right you can see the old Canada Trust sign and on the far right, the bottom of the Eaton's sign. That means it was pre-1997! Maybe they could put a more recent picture?

[vid]

Grandview Mall has been under constant half-assed renovations since 1995. Every time I go there they're changing something.

I always wonder why, with digital cameras being so commonplace, people can't just step outside and get a new picture. It is a good shot though, even if it is old. (And since Red River Road hasn't changed much, that isn't a big problem.)

What year did they dig it all up and resurface it? Was that 1994 or 1995 or so?

[softee]

Time for a North Bay update. Here are a few ongoing developments around town, and some pics of the Kids In The Hall shooting their new series on location downtown!

A new 5 storey apartment building on Cassells St. is coming along.


Here's another new apartment complex on Trout Lake Road.


New TD bank beside Northgate shopping mall which is between the two new apartment buildings.


A couple of suburban developments in the city's North end (on McKeown Ave and Airport road).




The new Nipissing University Learning Library is finally under construction.


Closer to downtown, here's the site of a future 4 storey residence for retired nuns. It's right across the street from a huge French Catholic church propped up on a hill (where I took the pic from).


Here's Main street being taken over by the Kids In The Hall!


North Bay is playing the fictional town of "Shuckton" in the show. haha


It's a couple of Kids in action.


A couple more Kids, including a "Dave" I know!


This is just a pic of my favourite new restaurant downtown, it just opened for business a few weeks ago and I really like it a lot. If you're ever in North Bay you should definitely go there.


That is all.

[russman]

Thunder Bay is jealous of all of North Bay's construction, however, we are getting a Popsicle stick factory.
http://tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=66601

That picture on the Heart of the Harbour website is no longer there now that they redesigned the site, but they still haven't removed the HSBC from the list of banks.

[russman]

Anyone know the status of the Canadian Tire expansion, First Gulf Innova Park, and Leons Fort William Road?

[Danny D]

Originally Posted by russman

Thunder Bay is jealous of all of North Bay's construction, however, we are getting a Popsicle stick factory.
http://tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=66601

That picture on the Heart of the Harbour website is no longer there now that they redesigned the site, but they still haven't removed the HSBC from the list of banks.

They could have hired a better web developer

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by russman

Anyone know the status of the Canadian Tire expansion, First Gulf Innova Park, and Leons Fort William Road?

No idea about Canadian Tire, First Gulf, or Walmart but dozens of red tipped stakes have sprouted in the lot that Leon's is supposed to spring out of.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Danny D

They could have hired a better web developer

I love showing Dougall Media's websites to web developer friends. They say it is like travelling back in time to 1997!

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by softee

Time for a North Bay update. Here are a few ongoing developments around town, and some pics of the Kids In The Hall shooting their new series on location downtown!

This is just a pic of my favourite new restaurant downtown, it just opened for business a few weeks ago and I really like it a lot. If you're ever in North Bay you should definitely go there.


That is all.

Awesome shots man. It's cool that the Kids were here. But that Lebanese restaurant, where exactly are they and do they have shawarma? I love shawarma...

[softee]

^ Yep, they have shawarma, and it's right across the street from the Zoo niteclub and 2-41 pizza, beside Good Eats restaurant. It's open until 3am on Thurs-Sat if you have a late night craving. haha The Euphoria location up the street has shawarma too.

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by F. Lionel

No idea about Canadian Tire, First Gulf, or Walmart but dozens of red tipped stakes have sprouted in the lot that Leon's is supposed to spring out of.

I suspect that Leon's will start construction fairly soon. Trucks were bringing in loads of dirt today onto the lot. I suppose it's just all wait and see at this point.

The Dresswell Cleaners building came down today too. I drove past it this afternoon - it looked about half down at 3pm.

The was also an excavator in one of the empty lots along May Street. I don't know if it was there as temporary measure or there was a greater purpose but it's the first time in a long time I saw anything in those lots beyond weeds, temporary bill boards, and cars for sale by owner.

[vid]

I've noticed the vehicles at the empty lots on May too, I think they might be expanding parking for the federal building, or that is where the city is putting the bus terminal and they just haven't told us. They started that about a week ago.

Is that the Dresswell building on Syndicate? That's too bad. It had potential.

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by vid

Is that the Dresswell building on Syndicate? That's too bad. It had potential.

Yes it was and I agree with you about the potential. Now the lot has the potential to be a bland low-rise apartment complex... When someone gets around to developing it in a decade or two.

[russman]

Originally Posted by russman

I think the best place for an actual terminal would be at one of the empty lots at May and —.

If that is where they are building the terminal, you heard it from me first. Out of curiosity's sake, what were on those lots originally and when were they demolished? That whole block is like a war zone.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by softee

^ Yep, they have shawarma, and it's right across the street from the Zoo niteclub and 2-41 pizza, beside Good Eats restaurant. It's open until 3am on Thurs-Sat if you have a late night craving. haha The Euphoria location up the street has shawarma too.

You sir, are now my Hero of Northern Ontario. And I didn't know Euphoria had shawarma.

In any case, I tried it tonight and while I still prefer Ottawa shawarma(you get much bigger for less), it was still a very enjoyable shawarma. I'm glad it came to North Bay.