Northern Ontario developments!

[vid]

«Based on the 2006 Census, the total population of the City of Greater Sudbury is 157,857.»

Yes, it is. And if this link works, you will see the the urban part of Sudbury has 106,612 people. Pan west for a bit and you'll see that Thunder Bay has 103,247. We're just slightly smaller. (And our population has dropped more than 5,000 in the past few years, so we were bigger at one point).

We don't have a Valley East or Lively to make our numbers bigger like you do, and if we did, they certainly wouldn't be within the city limits.

You should post the pictures in a separate thread, I think Softee and I are the only ones that come here on a regular basis.

[softee]

Thanks for the Sudbury pics Costanza, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of them! You probably should have made a new thread for them, but oh well.

Here's more North Bay stuff from this month's Northern Ontario Business:

North Bay becoming a hotbed of hotel construction

By NICK STEWART

Having completed the final touches on North Bay’s newest hotel, a Burlington-based developer is already ramping up to begin construction on a second, with the idea for a third hotel also in the works.

“We’ve conducted a series of market studies for the region, and they indicated to us that there was in fact room for up to three new hotels in the city, so that’s what we’re going to do,” says Darko Vranich, president and CEO of Vrancor Development Corporation.

The combined total of building the two initial hotels will reach beyond $30 million, and will employ more than 100 people.

Despite the official opening of the 116-bed Holiday Inn Express in late July, Vranich’s involvement doesn’t end there. He also runs a hospitality management firm, Vrancor Hospitality Corporation, which oversees the operation of the hotels once they’ve been built.

To date, the company has built and overseen six hotels throughout southern Ontario and the United States, including London, Toronto, Hamilton, Huntsville, as well as Kansas City, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska.

Although “all are welcome to stay there,” Vranich says the new Holiday Inn Express has a variety of features specifically suited to cater to corporate clients. These include an exercise room, photocopy and fax services, as well as a meeting space designed to hold up to 100 people. A smaller boardroom is also available for up to 25 people.

This particular focus is a result of studies that indicate a growing number of local businesses with a client base extending beyond the immediate area require more accommodations during their stay.

In the coming weeks, Vrancor will begin work on an extended stay hotel known as Staybridge Suites, an 85-room facility featuring one and two-bedroom spaces as well as studio apartments. Allowing for a stay up to a year, the hotel features amenities such as fridges and stoves in each unit. This allows people to look for permanent residence, while relocating to the city, or for families as they tour the region, Vranich says.

Like the Holiday Inn Express, construction of Staybridge will largely be overseen by Vrancor, who will employ a variety of local subcontractors such as Miller Paving Limited.

However, the company’s plans for the city won’t end there, as Vranich says he fully intends to build a third, Hilton-branded hotel in the city, though details have not been finalized.

With the strengthening economy, record construction levels and a growing number of businesses settling into the city, North Bay seemed a natural choice to establish new hotels, Vranich says.

“It’s very simple: you go where the market is.”

Tourism typically injects $197 million into the local economy, while supporting the 1,200 businesses that provide direct or indirect service to the industry. North Bay stands to benefit from new hotel construction, according to Katarina Nordbeck, tourism coordinator for the City of North Bay.

Not only does it create additional accommodation space for travellers, but a series of multi-million dollar investments by a recognized name in hospitality will assist local efforts to attract new business to the region, she says.

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by softee

“We’ve conducted a series of market studies for the region, and they indicated to us that there was in fact room for up to three new hotels in the city, so that’s what we’re going to do,” says Darko Vranich, president and CEO of Vrancor Development Corporation.

Are any of these hotels going into the downtown? It seems like a lot of effort is going to make the downtown more livable, so what gives with building hotels next to Wallmart?

[vid]

It's a bizarre trend. We're building a hotel between a Superstore (Like Wal-Mart but Canadian, and green. Not green as in environmentally friendly, but green as in the entire building is green.) and a four lane "expressway". We built another one a bit further down the expressway between some bushes and a Tim Horton's (Coffee shop) and another near our new hospital which is also surrounded by bushes, and not in walking distance to anything except the hospital and another Tim Horton's.

We have a hotel proposal downtown, but it hasn't been unveiled yet. It will be more of a luxury hotel/condominium type than the discount hotels in the shopping areas.

[softee]

^^ I'm hoping that the third hotel will be downtown, but at this point who knows.

Do you live in North Bay ikerrin?

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by softee

^^ I'm hoping that the third hotel will be downtown, but at this point who knows.

Do you live in North Bay ikerrin?

Sadly, no. I dated a woman from North Bay, and spent a lot of time there. I really fell in love with Northern Ontario (though I have never actually spent any time in Thunder Bay - its my only outstanding Northern City to visit). I was really happy to see that there were active members on the site from up North.

Are you and Vid both natives or did you move for school?

[vid]

I've been here all my life and have never left Superior's shores. I can't speak for Softee but I imagine he's been in North Bay since the beginning too.

Kenora and Dryden are cities too, you know. Don't leave them out!

[softee]

I've lived in North Bay since I was 5 years old, but I was born down in Wallaceburg near Chatham.

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by vid

I've been here all my life and have never left Superior's shores. I can't speak for Softee but I imagine he's been in North Bay since the beginning too.

Kenora and Dryden are cities too, you know. Don't leave them out!

She says, completely forgetting Timmins!

[vid]

And Elliot Lake, and Temiskaming Shores. And only my avatar is a she.

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by vid

And Elliot Lake, and Temiskaming Shores. And only my avatar is a she.

Thosand apologies!!!!!!

My mind was on Kirkland Lake and Hearst.

[vid]

They're both big but neither has reached city status.

[vid]

Since my last update thing:

The community group opposed to replacing a boarded up school missed the OPB deadline and the project will likely be able to go ahead, but they community wants a lot of say in the project.

Groundbreaking has begun on the George Jeffrey Children's Centre, probably one of the most exciting architectural pieces in progress in the city. It should be completed by Autumn 2008.



The Lakehead Public School Board will be demolishing Balsam Street School to built their new $27M high school. The school will replace Hillcrest and PACI, and serve Port Arthur's north end and the rural area around the city.

The Gold Dome was sold and will be renovated, including a new dome fabric. It will offer general sports, with an emphasis on sports that don't have leagues in the city.

The Ontario Liberals have made an election promise that, if elected, a new senior's assisted living centre will be constructed on the Hogarth-Riverview Hospital grounds, replacing Pinewood and Dawson courts, which are aging and need replacing.

There was a fire at Dease Pool at 6:30 this morning, the building suffered minor structural damage. No one was hurt.

That's it.

[Rico Rommheim]

ot: Vid, your blog is one of the most random and bitter things Ive ever read! Its hilarious! You should run for office, and when you grasp power Ill gladly act as your enforcer. I work long hours enforcing and solidifying your enactments, and demand only to be supplied with a sweat shirt, a baseball cap and a cricket bat for business!

[vid]

I am a random and bitter person. I think I might make a good fit in municipal politics. Aside from the incumbent, the last mayoral election saw an alcoholic wifebeater and an imprisoned pot smoker (who wanted to make Thunder Bay the Amsterdam of Canada. HAH!) vie for the top spot. (Needless to say, Peterson was re-elected with a margin that even Hurricane Hazel herself would find astounding)

When I become King of this city, I promise you will have quite steady work indeed.

[Windex]

Originally Posted by vid

The Lakehead Public School Board will be demolishing Balsam Street School to built their new $27M high school. The school will replace Hillcrest and PACI, and serve Port Arthur's north end and the rural area around the city.

Just out of curiousity, does that mean they gave up on building the new school on the corner of Golf Links Road and Oliver? I remember there were some pretty big plans for a three-way swap that got rejected (I think?) between the University, the school board and the Golf Course whose name I can't remember.

[vid]

It was cancelled a while ago, the LU Student Union has a sweat lodge on part of the property, there was opposition from residents and it would have been a logistics nightmare to have buses and vehicles going there for a 2000 student school. In March or April they changed the location to the south end of LU property, but it was turned down because of opposition from residents ('We don't want a school disrupting the peace and quiet here') and students('No one will be able to walk to this thing') so they spent a couple months in limbo before deciding on Balmoral.

The golf course is the Thunder Bay Country Club.

[Kitchissippi]

I have some questions regarding highway 17 in northwestern Ontario.

Is the highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon being fixed or is it slated for improvement in the near future?

Also, when I was cycling through a few years back, there was some massive road construction east of Dryden, which I imagine is all finished by now. I asked a construction guy if they were putting wide paved shoulders same as the stretch from Kenora to Dryden which have at least a 1.5 to 2 metre shoulder, but he did not know. I am curious if in fact the new road has the same standard.

[vid]

A four lane right of way is being extended through Shuniah, but the highway through there will be two lane. They are creating a four lane right of way for future expansion. Shuniah is the fastest growing community in NWO (About 5% per year and increasing) so the highway will likely be needed in the future.

From Shuniah to Nipigon, the highway is seeing general improvements (Shoulders, new bridges, truck climbing lanes, etc.) but won't see any major upgrades. It will remain a two lane highway for the foreseeable future.

I don't know about the project near Dryden, I assume it's finished. They've been putting shoulders along the Trans-Canada gradually as funds are freed up.

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by vid

I've been here all my life and have never left Superior's shores. I can't speak for Softee but I imagine he's been in North Bay since the beginning too.

Kenora and Dryden are cities too, you know. Don't leave them out!

Kenora has a beautiful natural setting, the place is a little rough around the edges but overall I'm amazed that we don't see more condo developments / retirement homes being built there like they have in Gimli, MB.