WINDSOR | Construction - News and Development

[Symz]

Originally Posted by Blitz

There are actually a higher percentage of low income families in London. What I'm saying though is that London has done a better job of planning such that low income areas are scattered all throughout the city. In Windsor, they are more heavily concentrated in huge projects.

The Glengarry housing project may 'seem' big in terms of the space it occupies but it's not very dense. I don't even think it's that big personally but think that maybe due to it's location it seems big relative to the size of our downtown. I would find it hard to believe that a city like London doesn't have low income housing areas the size of Glengarry, there are only 12 buildings that make up the Glengarry block, 7 of them being single storey row houses.

Glengarry does not bother me like it appears to bother you guys as much. I generally find the area quiet and more or less well kept. There are other parts of downtown that look more trashy and run down in my opinion.

[Jacob]

I know windsor is not the most polluted in Canada, i'm saying it is quite commonly believed to be. We have the most smog days yes, but we still don't have the worst pollution, that award goes to Sarnia, ON. As for other US cities, they may have worse air pollution but we have that Detroit river over there As for the buses, anyone that ever uses the buses in Windsor will know that some of our older vehicles are terrible, they are noisy, smelly and shaky. I see the bus buying deal in two ways, first, the city kissing BYD's @** and secondly, potentially ten nice new buses for Windsor .

[Symz]

@ Jacob: The new buses supposedly have 17 seats on them, do you have any ideas how this compares to the cities current buses in terms of passenger seating capacity? Some people are speculating that it's less seats than the current models, but I've seen the inside of some of the buses, especially the ones that are low to the ground and to me it seems like they'd probably have a comparable number of seats to these BYD electrics.

[Symz]

source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2012/05/10/wdr-capitol-theatre-update.html

Renovation of Capitol Theatre a month away

The Capitol Theatre in downtown Windsor will close at the end of May.

It will then undergo $1.8 million dollars of repairs and renovations to get it ready for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.

Symphony executive director Jeth Mill said they're working under a tight timeline. The first symphony performance is planned for late September.

"They include repairing the roof, repairing the west wall, which was damaged by water infiltration, repairing the heating and air conditioning units on the roof," Mill said. "And then, they're doing some re-modelling of the stage house area and the offices to make it more suitable for the use as a concert hall for the symphony."

The City of Windsor will pay for the renovations. The symphony will lease and run the Capitol for at least the next 10 years.

"I think this three-block area from the armouries up to Victoria is going to be an extremely vibrant part of downtown when you think about the school of music and art and film from the university moving into the armouries," Mill said. "With all that is going to be happening here at the Capitol, this is going to be the epicentre of arts and culture."

[Symz]

Aquatic Centre update, pics by me. There was also something going on at one of the condo buildings as well, possibly swapping out an AC unit or something that required a crane.







You can see the empty Grace Hospital in the background of the last picture.

[RoseCityFreePress]

Has anyone driven by the W-E parkway lately? How is the excavation coming along?

[north 42]

Originally Posted by RoseCityFreePress

Has anyone driven by the W-E parkway lately? How is the excavation coming along?

We drove by last weekend and there was quite a bit done already, some of the overpasses were done, and you could see the below grade roadbed under them was all dug out. Looks like things are moving quickly for this project.

[Symz]

Near Ojibway parkway you can see massive hills of dirt as they are getting ready to eventually build an overpass that will lead to the future bridge.

[Symz]

source:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/05/16/st-clair-college-plans-further-expansion-downtown/

St. Clair College is poised to expand its footprint in the downtown core with another announcement in the next couple months, said John Strasser, the college’s president on Wednesday.

While he was short on specifics, there have long been suggestions the college will take over the former TD bank building on the corner of University Avenue and Victoria Avenue which sits across the street from its Mediaplex.

“In the matter of the next 60 days you will be hearing more announcements in downtown core,” he said. “Because we have (the Mediaplex and St. Clair Centre for the Arts) it’s leading to other things.

“We want to create having more students in the same area we have them now. It will be staying within the footprint that we have now.”

Strasser refered to further expansion downtown while accepting a $50,000 from the Windsor Downtown Business Improvement Association (DWBIA) for the Mediaplex.

It was a previous commitment made by the DWBIA under its facade improvement program which led to such a lavish exterior being created during construction two years ago that includes a living foliage wall and extensive signage.

The Mediaplex opened two years ago after the college received a $5-million federal government grant and a free building (the former Salvation Army) from the city of Windsor.

More to come…

[Symz]

Palace -> Windsor Star conversion update

source: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/05/16/concrete-dreams-take-shape-in-new-home-of-the-windsor-star/

Today we crossed the first big hurdle.

We poured 80 metres of concrete to level the existing sloped floors.

Tomorrow, we do Phase 2 of the pour along the North side of the building.

This is a huge step forward and we can now pick up the speed and get rolling on interior framing.

[north 42]

Can't wait for the tacky facade to come down and see what the materials and glass that replace it will look like. My client is the girlfriend of the developer and she said the city was wanting the materials upgraded for the exterior, so hopefully they're using top quality materials and not doing it on the cheap! After hearing that, I was a little worried, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Symz]

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofwindsor/

[cbyrne2014]

Booster Juice to set-up shop in downtown Windsor. Hopefully a sign of things to come for the core:

Source: http://windsorite.ca/2012/05/opening-soon-booster-juice-in-downtown-windsor/

Popular smoothie franchise Booster Juice is planning a Downtown Windsor location.

Booster Juice will be moving into a spot previously occupied by Bright Side tanning on University Avenue across the street from the Windsor Armouries.

The Armouries are set to become the University of Windsor’s new school of arts and music.

[Symz]

I was just reading this at Windsorite. It's a start!

[RoseCityFreePress]

Originally Posted by Symz

I was just reading this at Windsorite. It's a start!

It is a start! It's nice to see confidence in our downtown a company. Its also placed in a smart area. Right next to the armories and old bus depo. With the university moving in there it shows that some company's are paying attention.

[north 42]

This is great, I was thinking that this location would be a good one for a business catering to university students. Hopefully this is a start of more businesses opening up in the core in anticipation of a renewed and busier downtown.

[Symz]

My fiancee said there is also a taco place opening up next to Vermouth.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by Symz

My fiancee said there is also a taco place opening up next to Vermouth.

Yeah, I saw the signs for that. Sushi California is also opening up a new Sake Bar and Grill in the old Mexican Grill Restaurant on Pitt St. below La Guardia. It's great to see some downtown establishments expanding and opening up more places in the core, and not expanding outside the core.

[RoseCityFreePress]

Hopefully this is the start we have been talking about

[Symz]

aquatic centre with new cell phone: Nokia Lumia 710