Northern Ontario developments!

[OwenChurch]

I was in Thunder Bay last week, kicking it with some old friends. I like what they've done with Algoma. My cab driver didn't have many good things to say about golf links, but it's the right move for the city. Looks like the North end might be turning a new page. I didn't visit Fort William, so I cannot comment on it, but it's nice to see some fresh development in the Intercity and PA.

[TbayON]

Originally Posted by OwenChurch

I was in Thunder Bay last week, kicking it with some old friends. I like what they've done with Algoma. My cab driver didn't have many good things to say about golf links, but it's the right move for the city. Looks like the North end might be turning a new page. I didn't visit Fort William, so I cannot comment on it, but it's nice to see some fresh development in the Intercity and PA.

I'm not surprised at all your cabbie didn't like inconvenience the Golf Links project is creating. The fact is the job has to get done and I'm actually surprised that traffic is still moving about the city alright (considering the fact that Golf Links is one of the most traveled arterial routes in the city). People just like to complain a lot, once the new stretch is completed, the inconvenience it created will be quickly forgotten about.

I mentioned yesterday about Bondfield hiring a super for a Thunder Bay job. It is in fact not for The Club Condos, but instead phase 2 of the CEISS development. This may be positive news in terms of that project moving forward. Bondfield is the low bidder on that job, but their bid was still around $10 million over what St. Joe's budgeted and what the province funded. The project has been stalled since bids came in so far over budget, but perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel now.

The fencing is coming down around the parking lot at the new Target store. Still some exterior work remaining to be done though. I have no idea what is going on inside.

The building going up next to the ToysRUS is going to share a common wall with the ToysRUs building, and the tenant is likely going to be some kind of party store. I can't remember what the name of the store is though.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by TbayON

I'm not surprised at all your cabbie didn't like inconvenience the Golf Links project is creating. The fact is the job has to get done and I'm actually surprised that traffic is still moving about the city alright (considering the fact that Golf Links is one of the most traveled arterial routes in the city). People just like to complain a lot, once the new stretch is completed, the inconvenience it created will be quickly forgotten about.

I mentioned yesterday about Bondfield hiring a super for a Thunder Bay job. It is in fact not for The Club Condos, but instead phase 2 of the CEISS development. This may be positive news in terms of that project moving forward. Bondfield is the low bidder on that job, but their bid was still around $10 million over what St. Joe's budgeted and what the province funded. The project has been stalled since bids came in so far over budget, but perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel now.

The fencing is coming down around the parking lot at the new Target store. Still some exterior work remaining to be done though. I have no idea what is going on inside.

The building going up next to the ToysRUS is going to share a common wall with the ToysRUs building, and the tenant is likely going to be some kind of party store. I can't remember what the name of the store is though.

The big line of party stores is Ontario is called Party Packagers . Being formally from southern Ontario , they are everywhere and have a great selection. Might be them ?
Inside of Target is basically done , needs finihing touches . Shelving and stuff is up , all the cold fridges / freezers are running but empty of stock.They are basically on time for June opening.
I agree with you , people love to complain up here and not just about traffic , but tons of things . Its like they dont want the city to grow.
I use to drive Toronto everyday , this traffic here is a dream , even with construction !!

[vid]

The inside of Target has been pretty much done for a while. The exterior has taken a lot longer than anticipated because of the bad weather.

There are quite a few roads closed this summer that are located on bus routes, so the transit system is going to be pretty strained this summer, especially the Crosstown/East End route, since both are facing major detours due to the Golf Links and Cameron Street Bridge projects.

Cumberland from Water to Stephens, Frederica from James to Neebing, Neebing from Gore to Walsh, Sprague from Francis to Walsh and Franklin from Victoria to Arthur, are all being resurfaced, so the Mainline is going to be seeing a lot of delays as well. Waterloo Street, Limbrick and James area, and much of the East End, are getting road work. In PA, only Beverley, Toledo and North Cumberland are really being affected. The bulk of road work this year is in the south end, and on Golf Links.

[TbayON]

Originally Posted by vid

The inside of Target has been pretty much done for a while. The exterior has taken a lot longer than anticipated because of the bad weather.

Plus part of the stucco crew was deported because Bird allowed illegal aliens to work on their job site. Plus D-13 (the drywall contractors) won't buy anything locally and instead truck everything in from Toronto, and because the job was so poorly organized and poorly run, the drywallers went a week or more without any board to hang or taping compound. Plus Bird runs the worst operations in recent history in Thunder Bay.

Originally Posted by vid

Cumberland from Water to Stephens, Frederica from James to Neebing, Neebing from Gore to Walsh, Sprague from Francis to Walsh and Franklin from Victoria to Arthur, are all being resurfaced, so the Mainline is going to be seeing a lot of delays as well. Waterloo Street, Limbrick and James area, and much of the East End, are getting road work. In PA, only Beverley, Toledo and North Cumberland are really being affected. The bulk of road work this year is in the south end, and on Golf Links.

I think overall, the roads in the south end of town are in much worse shape than the north end. I'm not sure why, perhaps more attention was paid to the north in the past, or the different geology in the south is harder on roads. The re-build of the intersection at Victoria and Simpson will probably cause some slight delays as well. I think a four-way stop controlled by stop signs is being installed for the duration of that project.

[vid]

The south end is on an alluvial flood plane, we've got a lot of soil, poor drainage, a high water table, and lots of vibration from all the rail lines. The north end is on thin soil atop bedrock and its hilly so it drains well, so the road base in PA is pretty solid (except in the River Terrace area and County Park).

In forgot about that intersection. I think they should actually move the lights to Miles Street, since most turning activity happens there and not on Victoria. Miles and Vickers act as sort of a northern by-pass to downtown. Ideally a project like that would be combined with a re-build of the Vickers and Miles intersection to improve turning movements.

[Beedok]

What's the 5-6 floor building going up beside intercity?

[vid]

Marriott Hotel, 5 storeys. It's going up along the Harbour Expressway in front of Superstore.

[TbayON]

The NorWest Community Health Centre on Simpson St. is expanding. The province has committed funding towards a new two story structure that will go up next to their existing building. The current location is well over capacity. This is expected to be a multi-million dollar investment, although no exact figures were released.
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/280733/Healthy-boost

A tender is out for interior finishing of the new Fort William Clinic.

The Kinsmen Rotary Centre at the park on James St. will be undergoing a facelift this summer. All exterior work and general maintenance kind of stuff, nothing too fancy.

[vid]

Awesome news, that clinic is really cramped. They recently demolished a house on Heron for more parking spaces.

[TbayON]

Originally Posted by vid

Awesome news, that clinic is really cramped. They recently demolished a house on Heron for more parking spaces.

It will be the only significant health centre located away from either St Joe's or the TBRHSC is the near future, so it becomes that much more valuable for people who do not get around easily (and there is probably a greater proportion of that demographic in that neighbourhood). This building is supposed to be constructed on one of their existing parking lots, so I guess they may be looking for additional parking in the future.

[Dwils01]

Official ground breaking for the new Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board and consolidated Catholic High Schools. Will be completed for September 2015.

The $51 million provincial investment in the new St. Mary’s College will allow for the consolidation of Holy Angels Learning Center, St. Basil Secondary School and St. Mary’s College.

The new state-of-the-art secondary school located at the intersection of Pine Street and Second Line East, received the largest level of provincial funding of approximately 73 school projects province-wide announced in 2011.

Once completed, the new high school will accommodate approximately 1,400 students.

Read more here: http://www.sootoday.com/content/news...ls.asp?c=57300

Some renderings of the building.:









Source: http://www.saultthisweek.com/2013/04...chool-revealed

Also new in the Sault, we now have FibreOP internet technology provides almost infinite bandwidth on a super fast highway from Bell Aliant.
Read more here: http://www.sootoday.com/content/news...ls.asp?c=57285

[Loco101]

Is it just me or is it strange that a secondary school is being called a "college?" The interior makes it look more like a college than a high school.

[Dwils01]

It does seem weird to call a high school a college but that was the original name back in 1956 and they just transferred it over to the new building.

The odd thing for this location. There is not much development around it, it's on the Trans-Canada Highway which has a lot of traffic and there is no city bus service that goes near it currently

[ccnews]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

The odd thing for this location. There is not much development around it, it's on the Trans-Canada Highway which has a lot of traffic and there is no city bus service that goes near it currently

thats the same thing that happened in Orillia when Lakehead University built our new campus - its built on farm land, in the middle of nowhere, with no bus service

- bus service has since happenend and Orillia has built a sports building next door

[TbayON]

A retired school teacher is re-opening the Quetico Centre near Atikokan as a private secondary school. The guy is from Toronto, and seems to believe he will be able to make a go of it. I noticed that Confederation College is already advertising a new Float Plane training program at this facility during the summer season.

Shelter House wants to buy the former EMS headquarters at the corner of Donald and Simpson. If the deal goes through, Shelter House will expand their programming and offerings.

[greyraven8]

Originally Posted by TbayON

A retired school teacher is re-opening the Quetico Centre near Atikokan as a private secondary school. The guy is from Toronto, and seems to believe he will be able to make a go of it. I noticed that Confederation College is already advertising a new Float Plane training program at this facility during the summer season.

Shelter House wants to buy the former EMS headquarters at the corner of Donald and Simpson. If the deal goes through, Shelter House will expand their programming and offerings.

I used to joke that when the EMS was in that building that they must want some business really close to home - with the building running almost up to the road on Simpson and anyone turning left having to nose into the street to see anything.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

It does seem weird to call a high school a college but that was the original name back in 1956 and they just transferred it over to the new building.

The odd thing for this location. There is not much development around it, it's on the Trans-Canada Highway which has a lot of traffic and there is no city bus service that goes near it currently

I visit the Soo quite often as most of my relatives live there. The high school is definitely in an interesting location along what is locally known as the "by-pass." It's actually more like a partial by-pass. I guess once a real bypass around the Soo is built the roadway will no longer be part of Hwy 17.

[vid]

I was hoping the EMS building would be demolished. It was built before the street was extended to connect to Arthur, and they had to squeeze it in because of space constraints. They recently banned left-hand turns off of Donald there.

The programme that will go into that building will be the alcohol treatment programme, which will move out of the smaller two storey building behind. The old building will house youth services. Currently, homeless youth are mixed with the adult population and there are serious safety issues with that.

Until about the 1960s, a Collegiate or College was a high school that offered academic studies, while a Technical School taught hands-on skills. This was when universities were pretty exclusive options. Which kind of school you went to depended on your grades.

[TbayON]

Glad they finally banned left hand turns there off Donald. You really can't see at all around that building. I don't think that warrants it being torn down though. There isn't that much traffic that turns off Donald onto Simpson. I hope the city also bans right hand turns for southbound traffic off May onto Arthur nearby on the red light. That intersection is far more dangerous because of the traffic volumes. I have lost count of how many times I have come around the corner where Simpson turns to Arthur and had to break hard to avoid hitting the city bus that uses both lanes to turn, never mind cars.

====

A new Bulk Zone store is opening on Macdonell St., behind Mario's Bowl. Odd location if you ask me, but I guess they figure it will work out okay. The building is being renovated right now.

The new store that is proposed next to the new Toys R Us store is a Party City. I had never heard of them before, but according to what information I found, it is a large North American chain.
http://www.partycity.com/