Northern Ontario developments!

[TbayON]

Signs are up on the exterior of the former Zellers location at County Fair advertising Wal-Mart's imminent arrival. I suppose there would be signs up at the Thunder Bay Mall location as well, but I haven't seen first hand myself.

I also noticed there is a — load of tractor trailer units parked by the old Suny's Gas Bar at County Fair. I am not sure what that is all about. There are no tractor units attached and they are parked in an orderly manner along Dawson Rd, so its not like it was just for an overnight stay either.

There was a building torn down recently along Red River Rd. It was the old service station that became dilapidated over the past number of years (image below) at the end of Kenogami. Hopefully the lot will be redeveloped instead of sitting there as yet another empty gravel lot along a main arterial road in Thunder Bay.

[vid]

I went out to Parkdale on Saturday, the Zellers sign is gone and a Walmart: Coming Soon banner is in its place. Doesn't look like anything is going on inside yet, but I didn't take a close look.

Many businesses use tractor trailers as temporary storage, or in the case of my employers, as long-term storage. I would guess that it has something to do with renovations? I didn't notice if there were any parked at the Thunder Bay Mall Zellers.

[F. Lionel]

http://www.vuecondos.ca

Project site for the new condos at the Marina. Apparently they've sold 12 units already and the on-site office is set to open on the 4th of July

Still nothing on the Hotel other than "being in negotiations" and that self-imposed end of June announcement date is rapidly approaching.

Article from the Chronicle Journal

Other News -
-Spencers in building a new store at Intercity in the former Trendz spot
-The Source at Intercity is renovating in place and have a temp store next to Zellars
-Lidz kiosk opened today (Also Intercity)
-The lot across from the Thunder Centre at the bottom of the Main Street overpass has been sold
-Reconstruction of South Algoma Street has begun
-The Loop has moved from Bay Street to the corner of Red River and Court, into the former Rent-To-Own spot.
-Travelodge on Memorial will closed for another few months to gut their flooded basement. Bad luck considering they just reopened after the fire.

[vid]

1: That boardwalk no longer exists, but it is where the condos will stand, so I guess it is an apt photo?

2: "Off the Superior..."? The Superior what?

Condo websites are pathetic.

[vid]

Would it be possible that the lot at the corner of Main and Fort William has been sold to the city for the new transit terminal? Greyhound is right next door, the rail line is very close should passenger rail ever return, and that intersection is sort of the main focus of the transit study. It would be a pretty good location for a multimodal transit terminal.

I know the Labour Centre was also being mentioned, but that doesn't seem as likely to happen to me.

[TbayON]

Originally Posted by F. Lionel

Project site for the new condos at the Marina. Apparently they've sold 12 units already and the on-site office is set to open on the 4th of July

Good for them! Good sign when sales are happening already before the office is open. How many units are in each building though? They need to sell a lot of units before they even consider starting the second building.

Originally Posted by F. Lionel

-The lot across from the Thunder Centre at the bottom of the Main Street overpass has been sold

That is the one across from the Thunder Ctr entrance by Old Navy behind Kilred Winding Industries correct?

Originally Posted by vid

[IMG]

1: That boardwalk no longer exists, but it is where the condos will stand, so I guess it is an apt photo?

2: "Off the Superior..."? The Superior what?

Condo websites are pathetic.

Its almost like they forgot to put another slide/image in. It just keeps replaying the same picture. "Off the Superior" makes no sense whatsoever.

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by TbayON

Good for them! Good sign when sales are happening already before the office is open. How many units are in each building though? They need to sell a lot of units before they even consider starting the second building.

That is the one across from the Thunder Ctr entrance by Old Navy behind Kilred Winding Industries correct?

The article says "two condominiums of 102 units" with 12 already sold. I found out yesterday that my aunt and uncle put their deposit down yesterday on a unit and are moving out of Northwood. So 13 units sold.

And, yes, the lot I am referring to is the one behind Kilred Winding Industries.

Originally Posted by vid

Would it be possible that the lot at the corner of Main and Fort William has been sold to the city for the new transit terminal? Greyhound is right next door, the rail line is very close should passenger rail ever return, and that intersection is sort of the main focus of the transit study. It would be a pretty good location for a multimodal transit terminal.

I know the Labour Centre was also being mentioned, but that doesn't seem as likely to happen to me.

It could very well have been sold to the city for the future potential of city transit. It would be a very good spot as it has access to both Main and Mooney and enough space to house an excellent transit terminal.

[tjernobyl]

Originally Posted by vid

Any other aerial photos or is that the only one you took?

I brought a ridiculous shift lens on the flight with the idea of doing forced-miniature shots. I ended up spending so much time fussing with the lens that I missed most of my opportunities. Here's the uncropped view of the courthouse in context:

Originally Posted by vid

Would it be possible that the lot at the corner of Main and Fort William has been sold to the city for the new transit terminal? Greyhound is right next door, the rail line is very close should passenger rail ever return, and that intersection is sort of the main focus of the transit study. It would be a pretty good location for a multimodal transit terminal.

Better than you think. There's actually an easement for a rail spur in what would usually be a laneway.

[TbayON]

Both the city (well more so Aldo Ruberto) and Bombardier are both talking about light rail in the City of Thunder Bay:

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/218899/Bombardier-officials-says-light-rail-in-city-could-work

Its certainly something worth looking at in long term planning. The two biggest impediments in my opinion are Thunder Bay's low population density (as suggested in the article as well) and the local population's addiction to the automobile. With some good strategic planning, population growth, increased densification around major routes and increased fuel prices, this proposal is certainly possible in the future. Having Bombardier here in town could introduce some possible synergies or the possibility there be some kind of mutually beneficial agreement between the city and the company.

[TbayON]

A local artist is working on a project that would see a monument erected and dedicated to the efforts of workers at Can-Car during World War II for their pivotal role in constructing fighter aircraft for the allied war effort. I heard about this project a while back, but forgot and never got around to posting about it. It has emerged recently in the media:

http://netnewsledger.com/2012/06/16/heri...rricane-monument-proposal-vesa-peltonen/
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/entertainment/219145/Art-meets-history

The monument would be placed at the airport, and depict three of the infamous Hawker Hurricanes built at Can-Car flying in different directions. The airport authority is in favour of the project. Local fabrication shops will build the memorial. Not all funding is in place at this time though.

I heard from someone who used to work within the Buchanan Group that the Hudson Sawmill, near Sioux Lookout, may be re-opening. I had thought the sawmill lost its wood supply and don't understand how it could work, but the whole wood supply thing is so complex and messy anything is possible I suppose. I tend to also be weary of believing this since Buchanan likes to talk a lot about re-opening mills, but it rarely, if ever seems to happen.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by vid

That is a real skyline shot!

haha sorry man I guess I didn't see the two pics directly above my post somehow! Just saw the closeup one of the courthouse.

[vid]

It's a Delta.

It will probably be cancelled because someone accidentally mentioned it. Another day in Blunder Bay.

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default....led&-Delta-best-choice%2c-developer-says

[Chadillaccc]

What's a delta? You mean they are building a Delta in Tbay?


What about these condos I've seen mentioned, any renders?

[vid]

A Delta Hotel, they've been expanding into Northern Ontario in recent years and that they will be the hotelier on our waterfront has been one of the city's worst kept secrets.



The Delta is the black and white building mostly cropped out of the photo. There will be two condos like this, the other will be a mirror image of this one, located to the left.

[Chadillaccc]

Is that in/near the core where the new court is being built?

If so... that area is really developing! Great news for Tbay!

[vid]

The courthouse is in Fort William, the waterfront development is in Port Arthur.

[Chadillaccc]

Awe well that is too bad, but it is nice to spread the development throughout the city.

[vid]

It's better to look at it as two cities of 50,000 separated by a retail/industrial area. But eventually the retail/industrial zone will become more mixed use and high density.

[TbayON]

Great news for Terrace Bay, and all of Northern Ontario yesterday. The Aditya Birla Group of Mumbai, India has purchased the idled Terrace Bay Pulp operation that was under CCAA bankruptcy protection from Buchanan. The purchase price was not released formally, but reports in the media suggest amounts of $100 million or $300 million. More importantly, the company is going to invest $250 million into the Terrace Bay facility to covert it to produce dissolving pulp, and product used in the production of rayon. The conversion will take two years, and very likely a considerable amount of trades people employed at a variety of industrial contractors throughout the Northwest.

In the meantime, the Birla Group will be re-calling some workers by October latest to produce paper-grade pulp until the conversion is complete. Once the plant is converted, 275 jobs will be created in the mill and a further 335 jobs in woodlands operations.

The Birla Group was most likely attracted to the area by the supply of softwood timber. Companies from India, China etc. do not have a large supply of softwood timber since more forests in those countries and the countries around them are deciduous. The Birla Group already has two other mills in Canada on the east coast under their Canadian subsidiary, The AV Group. The company has a reputation for refusing to idle their mills even during the worst of market conditions. I think this company is going to work out well for Terrace Bay and Northern Ontario.

[blacktrojan3921]

I will say it again, Northern Ontario should be divided into two provinces between the Northwest and Northeast region; as both of them have a bigger population then the province of P.E.I.