London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[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.

[MolsonExport]

yeah, I "pigged out" at Ribfest yesterday (pardon the pun)

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by QuantumLeap

UPDATE:
Planning Ctee agenda shows a new permit for a tower at 56 Capulet (between Oxford and Beaverbrook)- yet another commie block for Wonderland/ Oxford. I am planning to write a letter to Council - not only is this area disgusting, but there has been little obvious urban design or site design in evidence.
PS According to City Map, there are 5 more unbuilt addresses at this site. That will bring the grand total of commie blocks NW of Wonderland and Oxford to 14 (approximately 2000 units!).

go for it. Commie-block central. Soooo Ugly.

[FazDeH]

^^^^ I smell a grass roots movement. I plan on contacting the city planning dept. too.

[QuantumLeap]

Just to clarify my earlier post, my objection is not the aesthetic one per-se. Obviously aesthetics are an issue, but they are one that Council has little will or power to change, due principally to some parts of the Planning Act. However, my main concern, and one where Council does have some control, is in the disastrous site planning of these areas- specifically the following points.
Public Streets - EVERY building should have its main entrance along the street
Setbacks - setbacks should be reduced to create some streetlife, but stepbacks, especially along main streets, should be reduced
Parking - parking, whether underground, decked or on the ground, should be BEHIND buildings, or at least to the side
Public Space - mandate less "landscaped" green areas on the buildings' lots themselves, but have meaningful, planned-out and improved PARKS in these neighbourhoods
Neighbourhoods and Commercial - the apartment blocks should be built to form a continuous whole with lower density neighbourhoods and the commercial areas around them (eg how about ground-floor retail or some attached townhouses mixed into these projects!?)

This is the real problem with the commie blocks. Screw concrete: the main problem is that they are planned to be isolated, inhuman ghettos. If I write a letter, would other people in the forum be willing to sign it? I have been writing some letters under the title of Urban Policy Workshop (don't know if people have seen).

PS Enjoy the balloon and ribfests to all of you in London this weekend (great pics)!

[Snashcan]

Originally Posted by FazDeH

^^^^ I smell a grass roots movement. I plan on contacting the city planning dept. too.

Contact me, I work in the City planning department, well for 2.5 more weeks haha

[FazDeH]

^^^ Okay, well Im a frustrated Londoner, who would like to inform the planning dept. that the lack of possitive direction is annoying.
you caught me off gaurd, lol.

[Snashcan]

Originally Posted by FazDeH

^^^ Okay, well Im a frustrated Londoner, who would like to inform the planning dept. that the lack of possitive direction is annoying.
you caught me off gaurd, lol.

I'm just as fustrated, I've been pushing for higher architectural standards and green incentive's, but it's a tremendously slow process. But on a positive note the City is soon (this month) to be hiring their First Urban Designer

[QuantumLeap]

I too am happy about the urban designer position. I am just scared that like many of the city's other "feel-good" incentives, the urban designer will either be powerless or will be allowed to engage in near-worthless "demonstration projects" and the like. I am also concerned that the urban designer will be a pushover for kitchy or trite urbanism. What we need is a radical visionary, someone like a Jane Jacobs or a Andres Duany (love 'em or hate 'em, at least they have bold ideas). Of course, it is hard to hire someone like that when you show neither the expertise in their craft, the interest in their ideas or the budget to carry out their work. Forgive my cynicism, but...

[ldoto]

Thu, August 9, 2007

A solution to the Riverside-Wonderland land standoff goes to city council on Monday.

By JONATHAN SHER AND JOE BELANGER, SUN MEDIA



The city's board of control yesterday backed a tentative deal with Sifton Properties that would make public a prime lot overlooking the Thames River that had been targeted for an office tower.

The deal, if approved Monday by council, would end months of dispute between one of the city's pre-eminent developers and one of the many neighbourhoods it built, Oakridge Acres.

And the prospect of a happy ending had faces beaming yesterday at city hall and Sifton.

"We're very pleased to hear board of control has blessed this idea. I hope council sees it in the same light as a win-win for everybody," company president Richard Sifton said.

The mayor and controllers made similar remarks.

"It's a positive solution, provided council approves it," Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said.

"I think it's a good deal we can all support," Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell said.

Neither side would discuss the deal before council approves it. But sources say the city would pay no money, instead offering future benefits to compensate Sifton for the loss of its prime parcel at the corner of Riverside Drive and Wonderland Road.

The city normally requires developers to set aside land for parks and recreation, or if land is in short supply, pay cash in lieu of land.

The city will modify those requirements -- where staff believes it makes sense -- in exchange for the 0.8-hectare (two-acre) lot Sifton bought two years ago for $400,000, The Free Press has learned.

Here's how sources say it would work:

- Sifton would provide two fewer acres of parkland than normally required.

- The city would waive cash in lieu of two acres where it would otherwise be owed.

Sifton had planned to replace a small home on the wooded lot with a five-storey office tower that would serve as its "signature" building in London.

While the company said its proposal met the objectives of city and Ontario policies, its application drew strong opposition in Oakridge Acres, where residents said a tower would snarl traffic, obstruct views and change the character of a community marked by a heritage river and parkland.

A community leader says residents will feel relief a tentative deal has been brokered.

"That's wonderful . . . I feel really grateful to all the people who got involved," said Monica Jarabek, chairperson of the Oakridge Riverside Community Association.

Speaking before she knew details of the deal, Jarabek hoped the city was able to obtain the land for a fair price.

"I hope it's reasonable for London taxpayers."

Controller Bud Polhill thinks so and praised city staff and Sifton for reaching a fair compromise.

"You have to give credit to our staff," he said.

Before council rejected Sifton's office tower in June, the city offered to buy the lot for as much as $500,000, but company officials said the offer failed to cover its costs.

[ldoto]

Vacant land at Wilton Grove and Cheese Factory roads in the city's southeast became a flashpoint for the urban growth battle when city hall refused to roll it into the urban growth area. Financial giant Sun Life wants to turn the site into an $80-million private industrial park.

[Snashcan]

Originally Posted by ldoto

Vacant land at Wilton Grove and Cheese Factory roads in the city's southeast became a flashpoint for the urban growth battle when city hall refused to roll it into the urban growth area. Financial giant Sun Life wants to turn the site into an $80-million private industrial park.

A Potential $80 million industrial Park. There is now tennants at all, nothing, and most likely sun life will come up with an area plan then sell it off ofr a massive profit.then 10 years or more from now there might be some industry. There is plenty of land inside the UGB, no need for this to be added, sunlife is only in for a quick profit.

[FazDeH]

I saw this being debated by the city council last night, theres seriously no land packs that would be big enough for the sunlife project inside the UGB? that seems odd, there must be tonnes of land available.
and then they went on to discuss urban sprawl due to the developement. Looking at a map of London its easy to see pockets of space that would fit a development like this one. I think its the cities responsibilty to try and woo developers and give them options.

[Snashcan]

There is a ton of land, but remember, sunlife is a financial company, they are only interested in the money of this, if this property were to be included in the UGB the value would jump 10 times once an area plan is finished, the profit would be enormous. This has nothing to do with jobs or industry or smart growth in london. This Land is agricultural land right now not worth much, but as industrial land it would be a gold mine. There is only one agenda to this topic, PROFIT!

[SlickFranky]

I've yet to come across an altruistic industrial land developer that wasn't about making money. But yeah...that's exactly why they wanted to develop there...$$$$

[FazDeH]

I didnt realize there werent parcels of land inside the UGB that wouldnt be profitable, but I guess this would be more so? I dont see the huge deal about building where they want to, aside from sewage capacity. there didnt seem to be any other problems.

[Snashcan]

Originally Posted by FazDeH

I didnt realize there werent parcels of land inside the UGB that wouldnt be profitable, but I guess this would be more so? I dont see the huge deal about building where they want to, aside from sewage capacity. there didnt seem to be any other problems.

Lets get one thing straight, Sun Life will not develop this property. They just want to get it in to the boundary and then sell it off as vacant land for huge profit. It is still very profitable to develop within the UGB. the reason why this land is so profitable is sunlife paid undevelopable agricultural prices for it, which are ten times cheaper then land in the UGB which can be developed. Sun Life will not build on the land, just sell it to someone who will, they will just come up with the plan for it, someone else will develop it.

The main reason to not include this is that there is already a surplus of land which could hold a development like this, and which one day probabally will. If this property was included there is no reason it would get developed any faster then other vacant lands within the UGB. What people need to realize is that sunlife is not proposing to develop the land, merely have a site plan approved for a future developer. This land may be included and not be developed for 20 years since there is a 29 year surplus of land. The only thing that would be gained from including this in the UGB is that sunlife would make a huge profit, there is no promise of jobs, taxes or even development. There is actually residential proposals which are going to be built, but again its just not needed.

If the City were to include any land which the ability to easily be serviced they would need to include every property on the edge of the UGB. There is absolutely no reason to expand the UGB at all. Nothing can be gained from it, aside from some massive plant ie Toyota or Rim or something alone those lines promised to build. Sunlife is strictly saying what could be there. They are not proposing to build ANYTHING!

The main problem with these types of lands is urban sprawl. its land that is not needed, and is only added to make the land owner money, not the City. The city has a 29 year surplus of land if growth rates remain stable, the PPS calls for only a 20 year surplus. Even the dreaded OMB wouldn't suggest this to be accepted. There is not one single piece of land which needs to be added into the UGB, the only people who disagree are people who think sprawl is good, or the people standing to make a huge profit on there properties (ie Sunlife). Not a single Planner in our staff thinks the UGB should be expanded.

[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.

[ldoto]

It's good news for a determined group of London residents.

They've won their fight to keep a five story office building from being built on land at the corner of Riverside and Wonderland.

Council voted on the agreement after a quick closed-door session last night and announced that the area will remain parkland.

The deal with Sifton Properties gives the City ownership of the two-acre parcel of land, along with another two acres of environmentally sensitive land north of Sunningdale Road.

In exchange, Sifton gets four acres of parkland credits.

City officials say no new subdivisions will be shortchanged on parkland because of this deal.

[ldoto]

LONDON - Some of the merchants on Richmond Row will finally see parking spots for their customers in front of their stores.
City council has decided to give this a chance.

Parking spaces will open up from the CP tracks to Dufferin Ave.

Councillor Cheryl Miller says concerns from organizations like the LTC have been taken into account adding this is only a pilot project.

Council also decided to add parking along Waterloo street something students at King's College have been looking for.