Northern Ontario developments!

[Dwils01]

Construction has slowed down in the Sault put hopefully some current proposals will start up this year.
Here is what's under construction right now.
Sault College Health and Wellness Facility, will be completed in September 2013.




Extendicare Homes, will be completed at the end of March.




All pictures by me from yesterday.

[toaster]

Nice. Thanks for the pics!

[Dwils01]

Your Welcome
Won't be a lot of updates now because I don't live there anymore and construction has slowed. Hopefully will pick up in the spring. I keep checking the news there to see if there is any proposals every once in a while.

Nothing much happening in North Bay either so I can't do updates here.

[vid]

I keep forgetting to post this:


Feb 5 13

The Marriot Hotel is now two storeys tall, three to go. The Holiday Inn across the street also has a crane now.

[vid]

Someone accidentally drive into the County Fair TD Bank again. Mistook the wide horizontal pedal in the middle for the skinny vertical pedal on the right.

[russman]

The former Kilroy's building on Cumberland is being completely renovated on the inside and out.

http://www.superiorlofts.ca/gallery.html

[vid]

It looks really cool.

[TbayON]

The inside looks pretty damn good I have to say. I hope they don't completely destroy the exterior facade, although I have no problem admitting that building definitely needs some help. I really like what they are doing to the neighbouring building. It looks better than the white paint and blue awnings currently there. I just hope they don't cheap out on the exterior materials on the old Kilroys. This has potential to be really nice. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the North core. More residential will help bring some life back down there.

[tjernobyl]

Originally Posted by TbayON

The inside looks pretty damn good I have to say. I hope they don't completely destroy the exterior facade, although I have no problem admitting that building definitely needs some help. I really like what they are doing to the neighbouring building. It looks better than the white paint and blue awnings currently there. I just hope they don't cheap out on the exterior materials on the old Kilroys. This has potential to be really nice. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the North core. More residential will help bring some life back down there.

Maybe the CIBC building down the street has me a bit oversensitive, but I do feel a sense of loss whenever merlons get cut down. It's still way better looking than the building in its current state, anyway.

More:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/03/08/tby-thunder-bay-north-core-lofts.html
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/267840/Building-up

One of the partners is the project architect for the hotel, so he does have experience in the area.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by vid

I keep forgetting to post this:


Feb 5 13

The Marriot Hotel is now two storeys tall, three to go. The Holiday Inn across the street also has a crane now.

Wow I didn't realize so much was going on in Tbay. Two multi-story hotels being built right now? Plus the courthouse! Are all three of the Prince Arthur Landing towers going to be going up at the same time?

[vid]

All three buildings will rise at Prince Arthur's Landing simultaneously, they're currently in the foundation work stage.

Those two hotels are simply across the street from each other. There is a third hotel (part of the Hilton family, Hampton Inn I think) going up at the airport. Someone at TBNewsWatch mentioned "another airport hotel", I don't know if they're talking about that project or if there is another in the works. The three hotels in the area have changed a fair bit; one has been renovated, one severed its ties with a national hotel company, and another just had a change of ownership and is investing money in some upgrades.

While downtown Fort William hasn't seen as much private sector investment and revitalization as downtown Port Arthur, there have been a lot of house renovations in the area and many of them are very nice rental units.

[TbayON]

Subway has posted on their website that they are to open a location at Carrick and the Harbour Expressway in the future.

A billboard has been put up at the Harbour Expressway and Fort William Rd. advertising 16 000 sq. ft. of new retail space. Not sure if this is new construction or what is going on with this just yet.

Got some picture taking done over the last couple days on some current and recently completed projects in Thunder Bay. I will probably have some more to come soon once I hit some other areas of town.

The new True Grit Consulting office in Innova Park. It was completed in the past few months and is now occupied:




New Toys R Us store at the Thunder Centre in the Intercity area. A billboard out front says the store will be opening soon. A few contractors are on-site at the moment completing the interior:


The new Marriott hotel is going up at intercity. Two storeys are up right now and work is about to begin on the third:




Completed Lowerys store and warehouse in the Intercity area. It is now open and Lowerys has moved all its operations to this one site:




The new 5-storey health services centre to be built at the regional hospital in the very near future. The building will eventually house the cyclotron and supposedly Spence Clinic as well:


Work is progressing on the foundation at the new Holiday Inn across from the new Marriott at the Harbour Expressway and Carrick:




Bruno's Contracting has started some prep work for a new building in Innova across the road from True Grit. I believe this is going to be the new Genivar location, which is to be a 3 storey office building:


The new Fort William clinic building, which is located next to the hospital and just around the corner from the 5-storey health services building pictured above:




Several posts have appeared on here in the last couple days about the new Superior Lofts in downtown P.A., so here are some pictures/renderings:
Current Building as it stands now (former Kilroys bar):


After conversion to lofts and commercial space on the main floor:

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by vid

All three buildings will rise at Prince Arthur's Landing simultaneously, they're currently in the foundation work stage.

Those two hotels are simply across the street from each other. There is a third hotel (part of the Hilton family, Hampton Inn I think) going up at the airport. Someone at TBNewsWatch mentioned "another airport hotel", I don't know if they're talking about that project or if there is another in the works. The three hotels in the area have changed a fair bit; one has been renovated, one severed its ties with a national hotel company, and another just had a change of ownership and is investing money in some upgrades.

While downtown Fort William hasn't seen as much private sector investment and revitalization as downtown Port Arthur, there have been a lot of house renovations in the area and many of them are very nice rental units.

Yeah Fort William hasn't seen as much redevelopment, definitely not as much as it needs, but it's making strides with the City Hall reclad, the new Courthouse, and plus it already has a great stock of buildings, they just need more investment/tenants. Put bars/cafe's/restaurants in the bottoms, liven up the streets a bit, then retail will come... and put offices in the top. Easier said than done, but I believe that is already what\s happening, or at least it is in Port Arthur.

Really glad to hear all three of the waterfront towers are going up at the same time! Port Arthur will have a really cool skyline soon. The ultramodern waterfront hotel right beside the modern glass condos, with the 102 year old Prince Arthur Hotel and the 100 year old Whalen Building right behind... and that Post-modern government building right beside, and the old train station. That will be quite the site! When is the waterfront tower complex supposed to be done?

[vid]

The waterfront buildings should be complete by 2015. The multiplex will likely start construction shortly after if the process gets that far. City council has been able to actual do stuff lately (as opposed to the period from the late 80s to the early 2000s where fuck all was accomplished) so I think it's pretty likely it will go ahead.

The main issue with downtown Fort William, and Simpson Street especially, is that there are a lot of absentee landlords and slumlords waiting for more government development to bring land values up so that they can sell their properties and make a profit. The Lyceum Theatre in Port Arthur is one of the best examples of the former though: It's owner lives in California.

[vid]

The Wendy's on Memorial has been completely gutted. I was there yesterday so this was a total surprise.

I wonder if this means it will be re-opened tomorrow? What am I supposed to do while I wait for the bus now?

--------

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-ba...-thunder-bay-more-property-interest.html

Developer notes new interest in Thunder Bay properties
Local architect and landowner Ahsanul Habib says interest from outside developers positive



Developers from southern Ontario and Western Canada are increasingly asking about property in the city, a Thunder Bay landowner says.

Ahsanul Habib said he's had several inquiries from non-local developers, within the past year. Some of those buildings hadn't generated any interest in the past eight years, but he credited the city's strong housing market for bringing more interest from outside companies.

Habib said he sees the interest as a sign the city is becoming more attractive to outside bidders.

...

Habib said none of the interest in his properties has led to actual sales.

[TbayON]

Originally Posted by vid

The Wendy's on Memorial has been completely gutted. I was there yesterday so this was a total surprise.

Applebees is getting a facelift and will be closed for the month of April as well. All the old folks in town are going to have to find a new dining spot for a month.

Originally Posted by vid

Developer notes new interest in Thunder Bay properties
Developers from southern Ontario and Western Canada are increasingly asking about property in the city, a Thunder Bay landowner says.

Seems to be a trend that started out west and has slowly moved eastwards. Even small towns in Saskatchewan and Manitoba saw interest in properties rise significantly, and a lot of buildings bought up on speculation. Since then, the economies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have done really well so hopefully its a sign of things to come locally.

[vid]

I find it ironic that so many old grumpy people eat at those places considering who works there. I often smell a certain illegal plant when I walk by Moxies.

[tjernobyl]

Originally Posted by vid

The Wendy's on Memorial has been completely gutted. I was there yesterday so this was a total surprise.

I wonder if this means it will be re-opened tomorrow? What am I supposed to do while I wait for the bus now?

The dining room is being renovated; I can't remember how long they said it would be. Drive-through is still open, if you feel like hitchhiking through.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by vid

The waterfront buildings should be complete by 2015. The multiplex will likely start construction shortly after if the process gets that far. City council has been able to actual do stuff lately (as opposed to the period from the late 80s to the early 2000s where fuck all was accomplished) so I think it's pretty likely it will go ahead.

The main issue with downtown Fort William, and Simpson Street especially, is that there are a lot of absentee landlords and slumlords waiting for more government development to bring land values up so that they can sell their properties and make a profit. The Lyceum Theatre in Port Arthur is one of the best examples of the former though: It's owner lives in California.

What multiplex?!

[vid]

They've been discussing a multiplex for two years. It will replace the lot the Watrerfront bus depot is on. The bus depot will become a kiosk in the multiplex on Cumberland Street.


http://www.ceiarchitecture.com/2013/01/t...vent-centre-feasibility-study-completed/




https://www.facebook.com/ThunderBayEventCentre