WINDSOR | Construction - News and Development

[Carlos_x3]

That would be Chrysler Canada headquarters (the Canderel Buliding). It was originally suppose to be 32 stories.

[Aylmer]

The place de ville in Ottawa(29stories) was supposed to be 43...
C'est la vie!

I didn't know that there was a national headquarters in Windsor. Any others?

[Border City Boy]

No. That's our one and only.

[Blitz]

There are some other national headquarters although small....Jamieson Laboratories and Green Shield Canada.

[Carlos_x3]

Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, which locally produce Canadian Club whiskey and some others.

[Carlos_x3]

http://scaledownwindsor.blogspot.com/
By: Chris Holt

On Monday, January 7th, there will be a couple of items going before city council that will continue Windsor’s drain of residents out to surrounding bedroom communities and further solidify the automobiles dominance in our transportation hierarchy.

Smart Growth, here we come…

Item #5 is the Essex-Windsor Regional Transportation Master Plan. In classic Orwellian double-speak, it pays homage to progressive notions such as following “a more regional approach to transportation planning matters including road infrastructure, transit, cycling and other sustainable transportation forms.”, yet the document continues on with a “list of critical projects that need to be completed.”, such as;

Extend Wyandotte Street East to continue this streets push east.

Widen E.C. Row Expressway to at least 6 lanes from Banwell Road to Ojibway Parkway,

Widen Provincial Road/Division Road to a 4 lane arterial road from Howard to the south city limits,

Widen and extend Lauzon Parkway to connect with highway 401 and then south to highway 3 in Maidstone “for the overall economc development and growth of the city”

Apparently, it is imperative that the city begin work on these projects, as “(f)urther delay will result in oppressive traffic delays crippling local industry and discouraging new investment and job growth” Wow, they seem pretty sure of themselves. My question to the city would be exactly how these projects will encourage new investment and job growth, as those are some of the reasons thrown about that nobody can question, because if you do you are anti-Windsor and anti-growth.

Item #4 is more of the same, as the results of the Manning Road and County Road 22 Class Environmental Assessment and the preliminary design are coming before council. I got a chuckle when I read that these “improvements” were being carried out under the slogan “Let’s Get Windsor Essex Moving Strategy”, as I figured it meant let’s get Windsor residents moving out to Essex county. I don’t think that’s what they meant, however.

This engine will just continue chugging along until there is a critical mass of residents crying out together for it to slow down. City council, it seems, is trying to be everything to everyone, yet it succeeds at nothing. It says it wants to strengthen out downtown and established communities, yet it paves and widens escape routes to the suburbs allowing more city residents to flee the same traffic those widened roads encourage. It wants to plant “a million trees” to help clean our toxic air, yet it encourages motorist-only methods of transportation to built-up areas where walking and cycling are not a mobility options.


"More of the same" is the kind of thinking that set us down the road that lead us to where we find ourselves today. Is this something you're happy with?


Neither am I.

[Blitz]

These improvements won't necessarily encourage people to move out to the suburbs - people are going to do that regardless. These are things that need to be done if we're going to keep growing as a region.

[Carlos_x3]

Agreed.

[Carlos_x3]

Henderson's not buying the grim predictions for Windsor. Are you?
Gord Henderson, The Windsor Star Friday, December 28, 2007

I would be planning an extra-close shave with a straight razor, or maybe a cannon ball splash off the Ambassador Bridge, if I believed everything the prophets of doom have been saying about Windsor.

These gleeful disciples of schadenfreude believe Windsor is dead meat and that 2008 will hammer more giddily anticipated nails into the coffin of a city whose fate is to shrivel and die like poor Buffalo, N.Y.

Last one out lock the door, toss the key in the Detroit River and either commit hara-kiri with a dull butter knife or start hoofing it for Calgary and a bright new day. Those might be the appropriate options if those who believe Windsor is going down the toilet have it right.

With the Big Three still tossing bodies overboard, and with Windsor joined at the hip to them, area residents have every reason to worry about the future. That's especially true now that Canada holds the unfortunate distinction of being the planet's most expensive place to build vehicles.

The picture gets darker with the American economy, facing waves of foreclosures following the mortgage meltdown, at risk of tumbling into a recession that would hit Canadian automotive plants and border cities especially hard.

A grim picture indeed. But I'm not buying the toxic message being peddled by the defeatists within our ranks. I refuse to accept that the Windsor area is so lacking in enterprise and adaptability, not to mention fighting spirit, that it will simply roll over and die. Call me a sap. But I believe a canny CAW boss Buzz Hargrove will sit down at the bargaining table next fall and find a way out of the plant-closing trap created by the UAW's revolutionary contract concessions.

2008 highlights

With a new year about to dawn, and a leap year at that, we need and deserve reminders, without getting pollyanna about it, that some good things will happen in 2008. And all is not lost.

Here are a few:

. THE BORDER. It's crunch time. After more than five years of bitter confrontation we'll see concrete decisions on a new truck route and on a third crossing.

One way or another, and we're counting on our powerful Windsor cabinet ministers to deliver most of the clearly superior GreenLink tunnelling proposal, the money should start flowing on a project, that, at $2.6 billion or more, will be one of the largest, most labour-intensive infrastructure projects in Ontario since the St. Lawrence Seaway.

. THE CASINO. It never ceases to amaze how this has flown under the radar. But a grand opening of the $400-million Casino Windsor expansion this summer will mark Windsor's arrival as a major convention and entertainment player, with a 5,000-seat theatre, bigger than the one at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and far bigger than either the Sony Centre in Toronto or the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

. WFCU CENTRE. The sniping continues. But Windsor's four-decade quest for a new arena is almost over. On budget and on schedule is how Coun. Dave Brister, the city watchdog on this $64.9-million project, puts it. If it stays that way, it will be a crushing disappointment for the arena's rabid foes. Never mind. Look for one hell of a party and a lot of button-popping pride when Windsor sees what its money will have bought and paid off by 2010.

. ENGINEERING SCHOOL. As the holidays were getting under way, talks were continuing between the university and city hall on a downtown site for its $110-million engineering campus. I'm told experts have assured university officials that it could fit on a proposed core-area site and that boosts the odds of a win-win deal on a dramatic building that would transform downtown while boosting the university's community profile.

. WALKER ROAD. It's hell for motorists. But at last report the $50-million rail underpass on Walker Road near the Chrysler Canada plant was still scheduled for completion in late 2008. That's the good news. The bad news, from a commuter perspective, is that Howard Avenue at Memorial Drive will shut down soon after that for a similar project.

The obvious drawback here is that all these projects are funded with taxpayer dollars while our private sector downsizes or battles to maintain the status quo against fierce competition and the ravages of a robust loonie.

But a dying community? With this kind of money being spent to build intellectual capital, improve our competitive ability and make Windsor a more inviting place to live? Far from it.

[Carlos_x3]

Howard detour to spare drivers
Windsor Star Saturday, January 05, 2008

Windsor's road warriors will be happy to learn traffic will not be shut down on a heavily travelled stretch of Howard Avenue when a major road improvement project gets underway early next year.

More than 30,000 vehicles a day travel on Howard near Memorial Drive where a $50-million road underpass will soon be constructed.

A similar project nearby on a parallel stretch of Walker Road near Grand Marais Road meant closure for 18 months of that critical north-south corridor, forcing drivers to scramble to find alternative routes.

But project leaders from Ontario's Transportation Ministry overseeing both road projects say a temporary four-lane detour can be built on Howard to avoid a shutdown of that critical route when construction begins in 2009.

"What it will be is a temporary roadway to the west of Howard, adjacent to the construction site," said Garfield Dales, manager of project delivery for the ministry team in Windsor.

"We are in the engineering phase and looking to further confirm the approach. We will have a better understanding how it might work in the spring."

Commercial properties that must be acquired to make way for the new Howard underpass will also allow flexibility to build a road detour and avoid closure during construction, which is expected to last at least 18 months.

"Unlike Walker Road where we are constrained on the site, we have more flexibility (on Howard) to look at options," Dales said. "We recognize it is a major artery in the city and it is important to minimize any impact."

The Walker underpass project remains on schedule, with completion targeted for the end of this year, he said.

"It's actually moving along quite well," Dales said.

"A major milestone was putting in the temporary rail tracks and that's in place, so now the main bridge work is underway."

The Howard project is expected to get underway soon after Walker reopens in early 2009.

Funding for both road underpass projects is being paid out of the federal and provincial $300-million border infrastructure commitment to Windsor.

[Carlos_x3]

Grand, green dreams for Windsor Armouries
Portland performing arts centre seen as model
Ted Shaw, The Windsor Star


John Morris Russell is quite happy to admit he's green with envy at the success of Portland, Ore., in turning a rundown former armoury into a state-of-the-art performing arts centre.

The Windsor Symphony conductor wants nothing less for the old Windsor Armouries.

Portland Center Stage (PCS) at the $36.1-million Gerding Theatre in downtown Portland opened in October 2006. Already it's turning heads for the innovative use of a historic site and the many environment friendly features.

The complex houses two theatres -- a 599-seat main stage and a 200-seat black box -- a restaurant and meeting areas. Like Windsor Armouries, it was originally a concrete shoebox built in the late 1800s as a military drill hall. Basically a building within a building, the complex was planned from the start to meet or better all contemporary recommendations for energy conservation and concern for the environment.

Described by Forbes Magazine as "one of America's greenest buildings," the theatre earned the highest certification -- a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum designation -- from the United States' Green Building Council.

Russell is convinced the same could be accomplished here. "(Windsor Armouries) is roughly the same size," he said. "With some forward-thinking and eco-friendly engineering, it can be turned into something to be proud of."

Just prior to Christmas, Russell toured the Portland building. Although the Gerding Theatre was designed to accommodate 800 patrons, and WSO requires seating for about 1,200, changes to the design are possible.

According to Creon Thorne, PCS general manager, the Gerding contains stage and lighting equipment, as well as backstage facilities, which cuts into the space for seating. A hall used mainly for music would not require that extra storage and dressing-room space.

But those are details that could easily be worked out later, said Russell. For him, the Gerding's biggest attraction, and the reason he wanted a firsthand look, is the financial benefit of environmental planning.

"The single most expensive part of a building like this is heating and cooling," Russell said.

In the case of the Gerding, energy costs are 30 to 35 per cent lower than originally estimated because of the use of biofuels, natural and energy-efficient lighting, the open concept, and an air-exchange system.

Those features added to the upfront costs, said Thorne. "But the benefits accrued now that the building is up and running are significant. It's already paying back that investment."

The American Green Building Council has statistics that prove making a structure green isn't as costly as the construction industry lets on. Green appointments actually add just five per cent on average to the capital costs of construction. With potential energy savings of 30 per cent, going green is fiscally responsible.

"Too many public buildings are energy sieves," said Russell.

In this city, one doesn't have to look further than the Art Gallery of Windsor, where rising costs forced the gallery to reduce its operating hours and impose admission fees.

Said Russell: "We have to catch this economic wave before it passes us by."

Thorne said the Gerding project has generated goodwill because of its responsible and efficient design, and it's goodwill that can be measured in dollars. A fundraising campaign which is still underway has attracted contributions from more than 1,500 businesses, foundations and individuals.

Developers found creative ways to obtain grant money from senior levels of government. The good news in Windsor is that many of the funding programs for historical buildings and environmental projects that helped Portland are also available in similar programs in Canada.

Recently, Russell met with officials from Edmonton, who oversaw construction of the world-class Winspear Centre, home of the Edmonton Symphony, by leveraging a $6-million gift of vacant land into $30 million worth of government grants and loans.

"This is an extraordinarily important moment in our city's history," Russell said. "Would it be wise to turn down a $60,000 request for a feasibility study that could mean $30 million coming to Windsor from federal and provincial sources?"

Some of those responsible for making the Portland project work have offered advice to Windsor on a "pro bono" basis, Russell said. Thorne said he would provide information at any time.

In fact, the Gerding Theatre has become something of a model for other arts groups in the U.S. and Canada.

When the idea was first floated in 2004, there were naysayers who argued the millions in federal funding could be used for more immediate social concerns. Sound familiar?

"It's the nature of the people of Portland to be skeptical about such things," Thorne said.

He agreed his community isn't alone in that kind of short-term thinking. But in Portland's case there was the looming fiasco over the city's costly involvement in renovating the baseball park, Civic Stadium.

On a much smaller scale, the Capitol Theatre is Windsor's millstone.

But skillful marketing and bridge financing, not to mention a whirlwind fundraising campaign, brought many of the opposing sides together. An April 2004 editorial in the Portland Oregonian put it in simple terms: "No project like this is without risk. But the opportunity to renovate the building into a theatre was too good to pass up."

The next step in Windsor is to get a feasibility study, said Russell. And funding avenues are opening up.

As of Jan. 2, 2008, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities will make funds available for up to $350,000 or 50 per cent of the cost of a study that calls for sustainable environment.

The government of Ontario has capital and operational funding assistance for projects that use ethanol. There are literally dozens of provincial and federal grants or loans that an armouries renovation would be eligible to receive.

[Carlos_x3]

Ice Track heads to court in '08
Original landowners hoped ambitious arena-racetrack would fly
The Windsor Star, Sunday, January 06, 2008

TECUMSEH -- They are the forgotten men and women in the $55-million flop of Project Ice Track in Tecumseh.

Back in 1979, 10 friends and business associates bought 296 acres that contained a defunct drag strip, some farmland and Fairplay Woods as a long-term investment in a key county location.

"We're a bunch of old cronies," says retired accountant Ed Chauvin, president and spokesman for the development company they incorporated.

The group, now down to seven investors all in their 70s and 80s, mostly did business with his former Windsor accounting firm, now carried on as Yee & Associates, says Chauvin.

Looking for what to do with the property - located west of Manning Road, north of Highway 401 -- they considered ideas as disparate as a multi-faith cemetery and a velodrome, along with commercial and industrial uses.

They said they also had offers to buy the lands and were in negotiations with a buyer when the Town of Tecumseh began expropriation proceedings

The town paid $1.75 million when expropriation was finalized in 2002. The price was about $2 million short of what the group thought it was worth.

"It was a shock," says Chauvin. "You're being stripped of something you put your heart and soul in."

The town had ideas then of building water and sewage treatment plants, consolidating public works operations, adding sports facilities and playing fields, and preserving 117-acre Fairplay Woods, the largest woodlot along the north shore of Essex County.

Since then, the town has signed long-term water and sewage deals with the City of Windsor, eliminating the need for its own treatment plants.

"The reasons for expropriation were never applied," says Chauvin. "That's the biggest objection we have."

The group's battle with the town over the value of their former property was about to go to an Ontario Municipal Board hearing when Tecumseh's Project Ice Track with the Toldo and Rosati families was conceived.

After talks during the summer of 2006 for a new arena on Windsor Raceway lands fell through, Tecumseh's proposal - to relocate the raceway and build a new arena on its expropriated site - was welcomed on the rebound by the scorned suitors to the city.

Many credit the announcement of the Tecumseh deal as the spur needed to convince Windsor city council to finalize its own arena project.

According to the agreement with Tecumseh formally signed Sept. 27, 2006, Windsor Raceway and its slots operation would be moved to the Manning Road lands. The town would contribute $15 million.

Ice Track Corporation would build a 6,500-seat spectator arena with at least a second ice pad for municipal use. An American Hockey League franchise would be sought to fill the seats.

The town expected to net $1 million to $1.5 million annually from the municipal share of the slots revenue, plus taxes in the $500,000 range per year.

The town would also be able to buy 2,100 hours a year of ice time for municipal purposes at a rate tied to its own twin-pad arena.

Municipal servicing costs, especially for sewage, were expected to run into many millions of dollars, but with the flow of slots dollars and taxes, the town anticipated a break-even date not too far into the future.

The original landowners were thrilled because their claim to an extra $2 million was going to be resolved, too. The town would return 123 aces to them, which they would in turn sell to Ice Track for about $15,000 an acre.

Six months later, it was all falling apart. No AHL team was ever signed up. The final weeks before the agreement's closing date of March 31, 2007, had lawyers for all three sides - the town, Ice Track and the original landowners - exchanging letters at a furious pace. The town took the position that Project Ice Track's failure to purchase 117 acres of adjacent lands from Coxon Towing was essentially the deal breaker. In the Sept. 27, 2006, agreement, one of the clauses states that Ice Track "has acquired or is about to acquire" the Coxon lands.

Without the Coxon lands, the agreement was declared "null and void" by the town, although Mayor Gary McNamara said at the time Ice Track was welcome to pitch a new deal.

Chris Kruba, lawyer for Ice Track, still maintains acquiring the Coxon lands was never a "condition precedent" of the agreement.

Other lesser objections raised by the town for not closing the agreement in March include failure to demonstrate that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation approved moving its slots operation from Windsor to Tecumseh with the raceway.

Ice Track maintains it had all the approvals that could be obtained at that point in the development. Kruba sought time extensions from Tecumseh to resolve disputed issues. The town refused.

Resolution, if there's to be one, is now up to Ontario's Divisional Court. The original owners and Project Ice Track have joined forces to seek judicial review of the agreement with the town. Ice Track has paid $50,000 in trust to the original owners, as part of the $2 million promised for their lands.

Ray Colautti, lawyer for the original owners, is hoping to get the town to surrender the 123 acres of the expropriated lands so they can still be resold to Project Ice Track. The town would be left with about 55 acres of the expropriated land, plus Fairplay Woods for its original $1.75 million payment.

Kruba says that Ice Track still wants to close the original deal with the town, move the raceway to Tecumseh and build the promised spectator arena.

Discovery hearings are underway. The lawsuit should come to trial in 2008, if it's not settled.

"It is most unfortunate that what appeared to be a win-win situation is now headed for litigation that will no doubt be very expensive to the ratepayers of the Town of Tecumseh," says Colautti in a letter to the town that's included in the court filings.

Chauvin says he'd like to see some more money while he and his partners are still alive to enjoy it. One of the seven is seriously ill, he says.

[Carlos_x3]

A live online cam has been set up at the WFCU Centre construction site. Although it appears to be some hours behind actual time. It was dark out when I checked it and I seen daylight on the cam, anyway heres the link:

http://www.eastsidearena.ca/

Also heres a link to another live cam at the U of W Medical Education Centre construction site:

http://www.uwindsor.ca/medicaleducationbuilding

Both projects are scheduled to be completed late this year.

[westerntragedy]

Howdy folks, was out for a few construction pics. Here's Club Lofts in its current construction state. Looking almost patched up outside, but a lot left to do on the interior.

[westerntragedy]

LED Screens and stuff going up at the Casino site. I don't want to overwhelm this forum with images (I have a lot), so follow the link here for the rest.

http://community.livejournal.com/win...als/49937.html

[Carlos_x3]

Very nice . I wonder how much the lofts are goin for.

[y2k_pony]

From that Casino pic it looks like they wont be doing a skybridge from the new hotel to the parking garage.

[westerntragedy]

Yeah I think the parking garage really got the shaft in the skybridge redesign. Was supposed to have had two additional levels added up top, but instead, they've built that massive energy center.

[Surrealplaces]

That casino project looks like a pretty big one. I like how you can see the Renaissance towers in the background.

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by westerntragedy

Howdy folks, was out for a few construction pics. Here's Club Lofts in its current construction state. Looking almost patched up outside, but a lot left to do on the interior.

That's a nice little project.