WINDSOR | Construction - News and Development

[upinottawa]

So does Windsor Raceway still want to move to Tecumseh? Maybe LaSalle can make a move to obtain the track. I think there is a lot of open land near Harrow....

If Windsor Raceway does stay put, what a poor public relations move on behalf of the track. But, I guess the City of Windsor now knows the track is serious about finding a better deal.

[upinottawa]

Hospice Village first in Canada

Craig Pearson, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Bev Weidman looks at the homey residential facility soon to open in Canada's first Hospice Village and thinks back to 2005 when her daughter died of lung cancer.

"It was a privilege to be at our daughter's bedside when she passed," Weidman said Tuesday as she toured a $1.3-million, eight-bed facility set to open at the east-end Hospice of Windsor and Essex County site.

"Not everybody has the option of being at home. But when you're at a place like this, with all the creature comforts, it makes the transition much easier and more peaceful."

Weidman was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before her daughter, Joy Suhan, died. Yet Weidman said a higher power helped her -- after surgery, her cancer is in remission -- so that she could assist her daughter n her time of need.

So Weidman applauds the creation of the new facility, which is actually three modern single-storey homes connected to form a welcoming 24-hour palliative-care environment.

"It's beyond what we had hoped for," Hospice executive director Carol Derbyshire said.

"It's beautiful, it's bright, it's airy, it's cheerful. When we get all of our staff in here, this will be a wonderful home for people to come to."

Ontario Minister of Health and Long-term Care George Smitherman will preside over the grand opening Monday, along with Windsor-St. Clair MPP Dwight Duncan and other officials.

Though the finishing touches are yet to come -- the place still looks like a construction site from the outside -- the first resident moves in April 30. Two more patients a week will follow until the eight beds are filled.

The idea is to create a mini-village where doctors, nurses, specialists and families help comfort patients.

The new homes complement the 20,000-square-foot Hospice headquarters, as well as a newly built house to help patients manage pain, and a soon-to-come children's house to provide a play space for youngsters visiting ailing family members.

Some 900 patients use Hospice services, which has 44 staff members and what Derbyshire calls "an army of volunteers."

Hospice, which can upgrade the new facility to 10 beds, includes special touches in the residential rooms that seem more akin to luxury homes: wood floors and trim, accessible bathrooms, granite accents, mini-fridges, desks and Internet connections, gas fireplaces and individual patios to the gardens.

"The home environment is what we wanted for cancer patients," said Teresa Sylvestri, who along with Anita Imperioli donated money to the project on behalf of In Honour of the Ones We Love, which helps cancer patients. "If you can't take care of someone at home for any reason, you can come here and know you're well taken care of by nurses, doctors and family members in a beautiful home environment."


© The Windsor Star 2007

[upinottawa]

Very interesting development reported in today's Windsor Star:

City wants control of tunnel
$75M deal will give Windsor all revenue; thwart Ambassador Bridge owner's efforts

Dave Battagello, Windsor Star
Published: Friday, April 13, 2007

Fearing that billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun was poised to gain a stranglehold on Windsor's two border crossings, the City of Windsor has entered into a US$75-million agreement with Detroit to take full control of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel.

"That connection for 75 years has been vital to our residents, our region, tourism and our security," said Mayor Eddie Francis. "All of that was threatened by a proposal to turn it over to a private enterprise that would have destroyed that vital link."

Moroun over a year ago made a US$20-million offer to Detroit for control of the U.S. side of the tunnel for 100 years, but that deal was killed by Detroit city councillors following objections from Windsor and the Canadian government.


The agreement between the two cities will give control of the U.S. side of the tunnel, which is owned by Detroit, to Windsor for 75 years. The city owns the Canadian side.

The deal would give Windsor all of the tunnel revenue.

"If someone acquired the other half they could fill it up with cement and our investment would be lost," Francis said. "It's in the best interests of our citizens to protect this asset and ensure control of the tunnel remains in the hands of the public."

Windsor lawyer Cliff Sutts, who led the negotiations with Detroit, emphasized the deal will not be completed until he is fully assured local taxpayers will not be hurt.

"We will be extraordinarily cautious so costs of the acquisition will be self-supporting of the project itself," he said. "That there will be no need to go to the well of the city to support this transaction."

Several months of negotiations remain to finalize the deal, he said.

Sutts agreed the driving force behind the deal has been "to keep this out of the hands of Matty Moroun and the Ambassador Bridge."

The lawyer said a plan unveiled by the bridge last year to relocate the tunnel customs plaza to a new 200-lane superplaza in Detroit was "not in anybody's best interest."

Sutts anticipates Moroun -- or potentially other private investment companies -- will attempt to derail the deal before it is completed.

"They are going to give it their best try," he said. "I'm optimistic they are going to fail. Mr. Moroun already has his hands full trying to twin his bridge. But he doesn't give up. We will have to wait and see."

It was too early to assess whether the bridge company will interfere with the agreement, said president Dan Stamper.

"I'm not saying we will or we won't," he said. "We don't have enough information to determine that. I do know the City of Windsor interfered in our discussions (on the tunnel with Detroit) and we didn't appreciate it."

The agreement between the two cities is proof Windsor has become its biggest competitor in the battle over border crossing revenues, Stamper said. The bridge generates about US$60 million in annual revenues.

"We will compete with the City of Windsor or anybody else," Stamper said. "We don't like how we have been treated by the city. They continue to put up roadblocks over and over in what we are trying to do. That needs to stop."


Both cities before their agreement pursued third-party evaluations of the tunnel's assessed value -- which factored in the recent decline in traffic revenues and its potential life span. Some sources indicated Thursday high-profile global investment firm Goldman Sachs was among those involved.

"The ($75-million) is justifiable based on those assessments," Francis said. "This is a deal we are not going to get into if it means it's going to cost Windsor taxpayers money."

Revenues have declined in recent years at the tunnel, but Francis maintained: "it's a significant business and does have a healthy bottom line."

Matt Allen, press secretary for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said the tunnel agreement will play a major role in getting Detroit out of its deep hole of debt.

Detroit was finally able to balance its budget for this year, but is haunted by a US$155.6-million deficit from recent years, Allen said.

The city will pay US$67 million from its revenues against that deficit this year. Kilpatrick said in his budget speech Thursday that Detroit will get US$58 million up front from the tunnel deal.

"This would take a huge hit out of the deficit, maybe make it go away," Allen said.

"We don't want to be in the tunnel business. We get the money now and your city gets control. It's great for Windsor and great for us."

Much of the $75 million is expected to be paid up front by Windsor -- but what the final sum will be and where it comes from is subject to a huge array of negotiations.

The city has requested financial support from Transport Canada for the deal -- given how the federal government also expressed strong fears about Moroun's potential border crossing monopoly in Windsor.

"We have invited federal and provincial governments to participate and hope they will see the benefit of preserving the tunnel as a public asset and give us the legal and financial assistance we require," Francis said.

Transport Canada is awaiting a formal proposal from the city on any funding support, said Mark Butler, spokesman for the federal ministry.

"Certainly there may be an opportunity for the government of Canada to be involved in the actual transaction," he said.

The federal government recently budgeted $400 million for the border in Windsor and funds also still remain from the joint federal-provincial $300-million border infrastructure commitment to the city.




© The Windsor Star 2007

[upinottawa]

The province of Ontario has also kicked in $4 million for the development of the new Windsor arena complex.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=233642b8-e62e-47de-893f-9835e3d2df21&k=51845

[y2k_pony]

They just added a new camera view of the Casino expansion. Check it out.http://www.casinowindsor.com/Corporate/LiveCam.asp

[Blitz]

Downtown boosters

Developers buy CIBC building, hope to erect another tower

By Dave Hall
The Windsor Star
April 13, 2007

Expressing confidence in the revitalization of downtown, a local developer said he hopes to not only fill four vacant floors in newly acquired 100 Ouellette Avenue, a landmark 14-floor office tower overlooking the Detroit River, but to also build a new office tower on an adjacent parking lot.

Lou Mikhail, co-owner with brother Joe of Mikhail Holdings Ltd., said his company plans to “aggressively pursue new tenants for 100 Ouellette and we’re also in discussions with potential tenants for a new office tower on the riverfront.”

The new tower would be built on a parking lot between Papa Cheney’s Whisky Well and the Travelodge Hotel on Riverside Drive East, said Mikhail.

He acknowledged the development would depend upon reaching agreement with future tenants.
“We’re talking to prospective tenants now, but whether it happens in three or four months, a year or never is hard to say,” said Mikhail.

The Mikhails declined to disclose the purchase price for the building, which houses the CIBC Bank along with more than a dozen tenants. It was listed 18 months ago by Standard life Assurance Company, the previous owners, for $7.2 million.

“Let’s just say we’re happy with the price,” said Mikhail. “It’s a premier landmark tower on the best corner in the city with the best view and if anybody wants to be downtown, this is the building to be in.”

But Joe Mikhail said when 100 Ouellette first went on the market amid growing vacancy rates, it was a disturbing trend.

“It’s extremely difficult to attract tenants,” Mikhail said at the time. “The numbers are staggeringly high for office space vacancies throughout all the buildings.”

At the time, the Windsor-Essex County Development Commission was reporting a 30 per cent vacancy rate for office space in the city.

Since then, said brother Lou, “things have begun to happen downtown with the addition of St. Clair College, a major expansion project at Casino Windsor, a proposed urban village and the acquisition of property west of ours by a London developer with a strong track record.”

Mikhail was referring to Shmuel Farhi, who recently acquired property adjacent to the Art Gallery.

Mikhail said “we’re more confident and enthusiastic now about what is happening downtown.
“We believe we can market our new property locally and reduce its current 30 per cent vacancy rate,” said Mikhail. “We’re in discussions now with tenants who could fill three of those vacant floors.”

Based on 2005 occupancy rates, the building’s prospectus said it was generating almost $900,000 in annual lease payments from various tenants.

According to Mikhail, vacant space in the building is being offered for $10 per square foot.

Other Mikhail holdings locally include the National Bank building at University and Ouellette, 2970 College Ave., which houses Sutherland Global’s business process outsourcing centre, a $35-million redevelopment of White Woods Mall in Amherstburg, Harbourview Condominiums in Leamington and Tecumseh Commercial Centre.

[y2k_pony]

I would be very suprised to see them build and office tower on that parking lot. The tunnel goes right underneath it. I think due to the weight of the building they wouldnt allow it to be built.

[upinottawa]

^ What was located there before the spot became a parking lot?

[Border City Boy]

Ottawa, before the parking lot there was a Department Store on the site. Mid Rise, probably 3-5 stories tall, built in the 1890's long before the tunnel was built. The Department Store C.H. Smith was bought by Marks and Spencer's in the early 1970's and closed and moved to the mall where it subsequently went the way of all local and regional department stores.

The complex of buildings, on Riverside, Ouellette and Pitt St. were demolished in the late 70's.

[arnold]

i hate to say it, but that parcel of land doesn't need an office building. if they're determined to build, there are a multitude of prime sites in the downtown core that could be used. i understand the appeal of river views, but it would further the 'wall' that divides the core from the river. i say, leave a couple of sight-lines open down there and have the city heap tax incentives on the other less-prestigious downtown parking lots...

oh, and awesome news about the tunnel. i'd love to see the city really stick it to Moroun and his crew since they would, no doubt, stick it to the city without a second thought!

[fastcarsfreedom]

Smith's of Windsor actually opened the second location at Devonshire prior to the M&S takeover--when M&S bought in, they closed downtown and converted the Devonshire store to Marks & Spencer. If you look at the northeast corner of the mall from EC Row, the Smith's anchor is still clearly visible as a seperate two-story "box" between Sears and The Bay. It has housed Marks & Spencer (which downsized the story in the late 80s), then the temporary AGW. It is now shared by GoodLife and Sport Chek--the shape and exterior design of the building is still mostly unaltered.

[Border City Boy]

Thanks for the clairfication Fast Cars. That was before I moved to Windsor. I do remeber the M&S being open when I moved here though...

[Blitz]

City picked as No. 1 for investment

Financial magazine’s selection gives us good ‘bragging rights’

By Dave Battagello
The Windsor Star
Apr. 18, 2007

Windsor has been named the best small city in North America for investment by a publication of England’s prestigious Financial Times.

fDi magazine (Foreign Direct Investment) selected the city among dozens of other nominees across the U.S. and Canada — including London, Halifax, Gatineau, Barrie, Chatham, Waterloo and Sudbury.

Windsor’s selection will appear in the trade magazine’s April 23 edition.

“You can definitely say it’s a feather in Windsor’s cap. We didn’t just pull this out of a hat,” the magazine’s research editor Charles Piggott said by telephone from London, England.

The city’s development commission is already poised to prominently feature the recognition in its efforts to win investment, said CEO Matthew Fischer.

“This is bragging rights. It’s a great tool. I will use it until it wears out,” he said.

“This is a very prestigious paper. That’s why I’m excited about it.”

Produced by the Financial Times group, fDi is published bi-monthly with a circulation of nearly 15,000. It is geared toward helping corporate executives make decisions that promote globalization.

The magazine frequently highlights rankings of municipalities or regions in various categories, such as cities of the future. The North America competition was overseen by Piggott and involved a large panel of consultants evaluating each city in a wide variety of categories, he said.

Windsor scored consistently high within the competition’s 65 categories — among the top five in categories including economic potential, development and investment promotion, human resources, being business friendly and quality of life. “The numbers look good for Windsor,” Piggott said. The city’s strong development program to win large-scale projects was viewed as a huge plus. The city’s high unemployment rate — over 10 per cent in March — was also viewed as a positive.

“In terms of investment, it can be viewed as a good thing,” Piggott said.

The categories featured by the magazine’s competition are very much in line with exactly what large-company investors look for in their strategic decision-making, he said.

Despite the city’s high unemployment and recent economic woes — largely linked to the manufacturing sector — the fundamental reasons to invest in Windsor haven’t changed, Fischer said.

He listed our proximity to the U.S. border, being surrounded by waterways, having a Highway 401 link and high availability of a skilled workforce as being among key business attractions.

“Our great assets haven’t gone away despite our current economic trouble,” he said.

Receiving recognition from “a prominent third-party evaluation” should go a long way in winning much-needed corporate investment, said Mayor Eddie Francis.

“It shows Windsor has what it takes to succeed,” he said.

[Blitz]

A U.K. lifeline

By Gord Henderson
The Windsor Star
Apr. 19, 2007

Windsor needed this No. 1 ranking. We needed it the way someone who’s drowning at sea in a howling storm needs a rescue chopper to appear out of nowhere and start lowering a rope ladder.

You don’t demand to see the pilot’s licence and you don’t ask whether the winch has been inspected recently. You just hang on for dear life and marvel, through tears of joy, that help arrived in your darkest hour.

The news from a prestigious British business magazine that Windsor is the top-ranked small-city location for investment in North America couldn’t have come at a better time. Month after month we’ve been battered with grim layoff and plant closing announcements. The wave of bad news has created unprecedented levels of fear and worry that Windsor might have no future and has had people whispering the F (for Flint) word.

Just last week Canadian Press conducted a drive-by assassination, painting a dismal picture of our struggling downtown in response to news that the city for the second consecutive year “has the dubious distinction of having the slowest economic growth rate of any Canadian census metropolitan area.”

Meanwhile, a local radio station has been reminding us daily that the German masters of our biggest employer, DaimlerChrysler, are conducting a fire sale to unload their unloved Chrysler assets and there could be dismal consequences for Windsor.

Little wonder the eyes of Mayor Eddie Francis were as big and sparkly as freshly washed dinner plates Monday night when he broke the news that The Financial Times’ fDi magazine, a bible for bigleague investors, has singled Windsor out as a dream location to do business.

It was a hope lifeline, given the latest layoff announcements from Ford and GM and the sad spectacle of the machinery and other assets of defunct Windsor tool and mould shops going on the auction block.

Our immediate future is daunting. There’ll be no end of tears shed when the Ford casting plant and Essex engine plant close this year.

But these British business gurus are telling the corporate world Windsor holds enticing advantages, especially in economic potential, development and business promotion, human resources, quality of life and a business-friendly atmosphere.

We could quibble with some of those conclusions, especially the last one. But that would amount to examining the rescue ladder dangling overhead for potential flaws, wouldn’t it? Far better to snatch the good news and run with it.

“What a stroke of good luck. I think we should just be tickled pink. They’re handing a golden opportunity, a billion dollars worth of free advertising, to us on a platter and we should market the hell out of it,” said Alfie Morgan, retired University of Windsor business professor.

Morgan said Windsor should move quickly to take out full-page newspaper ads in major industrial and financial centres across the continent and beyond. “Executives are reading this. But news is perishable. We have to milk this for every ounce we can have, before it gets cold. Make the calls today if possible.”

Windsor hasn’t fulfilled its potential over the years, he conceded, and is now going through a difficult time. “But we will get through this. We need to shake it off and get up and move in a new direction.” He believes Windsor, with its strategic location, can move beyond assembly and reposition itself as a logistics centre, creating as many as 30,000 jobs in trucking, warehousing and related services. Diverse manufacturing would inevitably follow, he argues. “We have the fundamentals, the skeleton, and you can build on that.”

Elfio Toldo, a retired provincial industry ministry representative, said Windsor will “go through some tough times for a few years” because it’s so hard to compete with low-wage economies, but he agrees it has great potential and sees hope in a CAW that’s showing signs of evolving and becoming flexible.

Quality of life is a huge factor when corporations choose investment locations, said Toldo, and that only underlines the importance of getting a firstrate tunnelled route to a new border crossing.

He thinks, and I couldn’t agree more, that Windsor must do more to make itself physically attractive to potential investors. Clean up the damn litter that makes arteries like South Cameron look like linear landfills. Attack graffiti. Bury ugly power lines. Plant more trees.

It’s wonderful that business gurus in the U.K. think the world of Windsor. But we need to do more to be worthy of that high praise.

[upinottawa]

I don't know what to make of the above.

I always hear and read things about Windsor-Essex's economy being so automotive driven (I would not disagree) and how a lot of people from the area assume that there will be high-paying, unionize, manufacturing jobs available.

However, for myself and my peers the above was not the case. Of my high school friends (many of whom, including myself, have at least one parent that works for the Big 3 or a related company) only one went and worked for Chrysler (in manufacturing). Most of us figured that the jobs that our parents had would not be available when we entered the job market. For example, my dad works at the GM transmission plant. After 1993, I never thought that GM would hire again in Windsor.

Thankfully, the decent wages that our parents earned allowed most of my friends to attend university or college (not to say that many of our parents working for the big 3 did not have post-secondary educations) and take jobs outside the automotive sector. I suspect that my experience cannot be the absolute exception. I suspect that there are many Windsorites and former-Windsorites in my age group (25 to 29) who are well educated and/or skilled.

Is the above reflected when we speak of the doom and gloom of the recent automotive-driven downturn? Or am I out to lunch on this one?

[Blitz]

I agree

[upinottawa]

Interesting development on the conference hosting front. Certainly Windsor will not be near the draw of London, Paris, etc. That being said, it is great to see Windsor land a large international conference:

City to host major peace conference
Landing Rotary event 'wonderful coup,' mayor says

Roberta Pennington, Windsor Star
Published: Monday, April 23, 2007

Windsor beat out international hot spots such as Paris, London and Washington, D.C., to serve as the host city for the first Rotary World Peace Summit.

Rotary International's 1.2 million members in more than 200 countries will be encouraged to visit Windsor April 25 to 27, 2008, for the event, which is meant to foster world peace and increase awareness of Rotary's role in promoting that objective.

The announcement was made Sunday by Rotary District 6400 governor-elect Jennifer Jones at the National Volunteer City Celebration held at the Caboto Club.

Jones, a Windsor resident, said this city's diversity, proximity to the border and designation as an International Peace City helped convince top Rotary International brass to choose Windsor.

"It could've been anywhere in the world," Jones said of the summit. "It could've been in Rome, it could've been in Paris and Washington but, because of the cultural diversity and the geographical composition of this area, Windsor was in fact not only ideal, it was perfect."

Besides attracting Rotarians to the area, the conference will draw an internationally renowned musical act to perform in a community "peace concert," Jones said.

"Many different events will be open to the public and we will be encouraging groups to get together for celebrations at Charles Clark Square," Jones said. "We're looking at including thousands of children, we're looking at flag ceremonies as a parade, all sorts of things."

Notable speakers recognized worldwide will lead workshops, make presentations and keynote addresses based on the theme of The Absence of Want, she said.

Jones said Rotary is still negotiating which local venues to contract for the event. She said it was also too early to estimate how many Rotarians might attend the conference.

Mayor Eddie Francis said landing the conference was a "wonderful coup.

"This is an event of the magnitude and the scale that a city of our size doesn't often get to host," Francis said.

Gordon Orr, managing director of the local convention and visitors bureau, said the summit could bring millions of dollars into the area.

"It will bring a lot of people from great distances to the city of Windsor to stay in our hotels, to eat in our restaurants, to use our transportation," Orr said.

The event also translates into priceless exposure for the city, Francis added.

"Part of this conference that you will not be able to put a value on is the fact that 1.2 million people are now going to discover Windsor, 1.2 million people are going to hear about Windsor, and of those 1.2 million, many of them will come visit this region," Francis said. "This is just another step in terms of promoting this region and putting this region on the map."

Jones said more announcements would be made in the coming months as speakers and performers are confirmed.

[email protected] or 519-255-5529




© The Windsor Star 2007

[westerntragedy]

Sadly, the University's Grad House was demolished over the weekend. More here (and in the Star today).

[arnold]

i was under the impression that the medical school had been started a while back. what went into the hole that they made on california street a few years ago?

[westerntragedy]

^ That hole you saw was for the Toldo Health Education Center, which houses 7 lecture halls and the nursing department offices. The medical center is supposed to be an 'addition' to the Toldo building, with lab space and medical center type rooms (operating rooms?).