Windsor talk - Page 53

north 42 · #**1041** Posted **Apr 29, 2021, 1:04 PM**

I’m also very optimistic with all of the recent openings and developments DT, hopefully this momentum continues to grow over the next few years. I’m really looking forward to seeing more proposals for residential come on line as well, good times!

Blitz · #**1042** Posted **Apr 29, 2021, 3:49 PM**

Great news about all of these new downtown businesses. I'm kind of surprised to hear that Taco Bell is moving in at Ouellette and University? I figured a place like that would avoid a location that has no parking and no drive thru.

AmateurPlanner · #**1043** Posted **Apr 29, 2021, 3:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by north 42

I’m also very optimistic with all of the recent openings and developments DT, hopefully this momentum continues to grow over the next few years. I’m really looking forward to seeing more proposals for residential come on line as well, good times!

Same here! Hopefully as more people live downtown and others visit, the current perception will change. Definitely optimistic for the future!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitz

Great news about all of these new downtown businesses. I'm kind of surprised to hear that Taco Bell is moving in at Ouellette and University? I figured a place like that would avoid a location that has no parking and no drive thru.

Yeah, I thought it was an interesting choice as well, but I suppose that as the foot traffic increases downtown that wouldn't be an issue

Symz · #**1044** Posted **May 2, 2021, 1:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitz

Great news about all of these new downtown businesses. I'm kind of surprised to hear that Taco Bell is moving in at Ouellette and University? I figured a place like that would avoid a location that has no parking and no drive thru.

My wife worked in this building for 12 years. Most of it is/was empty. Starbucks was in the bottom, half the street level was empty for over a decade (the tiny part near Boom Boom (why subdivide that?)). Landstar was on the second floor and Movati Athletic on the 3rd, that's it.

Starbucks closed, Landstar left to Ottawa St. (although the Mikhails keep the placards on the building at the doors), the landlords suck, they're the same ones as the CIBC building.

So, it's about time something goes in there because honestly for the piece of property being where it is, it has been dreadfully underperforming for too long. Even with Taco Bell going in there, I'd take a wager most of the buildings upper floors are still unoccupied/underperforming.

Hopefully they get rid of the useless subdivision they created in there and blowout the whole ground floor on the Ouellette side to fully use the building.

north 42 · #**1045** Posted **May 2, 2021, 2:40 PM**

^ I agree about the Mikhails, that’s the biggest reason for that building being mostly empty. I hear they are not nice people at all.

north 42 · #**1046** Posted **May 7, 2021, 2:50 PM**

Average price for home in Windsor is up a whopping 60.5 % in April to $571,943. Still the most affordable big Ontario city.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...soaring-prices

AmateurPlanner · #**1047** Posted **Jun 4, 2021, 11:38 AM**

Found this site that's creating a "digital twin" of the Detroit and Windsor metro areas. It looks pretty cool, since it appears that you would be able to remove and add buildings and other features to the cities. Came across it on the urban planning subreddit, and thought the folks in this thread would interested

https://www.designwindsor.com/

It looks like it's only in a beta version at the moment

north 42 · #**1048** Posted **Jun 9, 2021, 1:19 PM**

Walkerville listed among coolest neighbourhoods in North America.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...-north-america

Vinny123 · #**1049** Posted **Jun 19, 2021, 4:19 PM**

So much misinformation and lies about windsor. Laughable
Walkerville among the coolest neighbourhoods in North America?
Windsor the most affordable big city in In Ontario?. Ha
At 570k average Stop and think about it? How is that frigging affordable for a regular 20- 24 dollar an hour worker? How is that affordable for a local windsorite?
Since 2 years ago Windsor and Essex is no longer affordable.
People stop believing the Realtor lies and the CBC bs its all about trying to lure gta people to start bidding wars destroying a once nice affordable city

Vinny123 · #**1050** Posted **Jun 19, 2021, 4:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by north 42

Average price for home in Windsor is up a whopping 60.5 % in April to $571,943. Still the most affordable big Ontario city.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...soaring-prices

You and i know thats a load of you know what.

ericmacm · #**1051** Posted **Jun 19, 2021, 7:37 PM**

Windsor still remains far too poor of a city to justify these housing prices. There is no reason a city with higher than average unemployment rates and no real increases in high-paying job opportunities should be seeing housing gains this large. Outside of the effects from the Canadian housing bubble in general, the lack of new supply coming online in comparison to other Ontarian cities (London, KW, Niagara, Barrie, GTA, Hamilton, Ottawa, etc) is why I think we are seeing such huge gains. I suspect that if this continues on for another year or so, Windsor will surpass London in terms of unaffordability.

A 60% YoY gain for a house is beyond unsustainable for a city like Windsor. A city with limited career prospects outside of the service industry or manufacturing unless you are a dual citizen and can work in Detroit. I understand how this is fantastic for people that currently own a home, but it's becoming quickly impossible for your average Windsorite to be able to buy in, especially if they are a new buyer.

north 42 · #**1052** Posted **Jun 20, 2021, 2:44 PM**

It is very frustrating that the area is not building enough residential to make up for the amount of people moving here. I’m still surprised that there aren’t more developers making proposals for new apartment and condo towers and new sub divisions, especially from outside of the region. If ever there was a time to get things done, it’s now.

Vinny123 · #**1053** Posted **Jul 11, 2021, 6:13 PM**

Windsor and its buyers are not acting poor at all by jacking up property taxes to crazy levels and home buyers are jacking up prices to disgusting levels. How can a city cry poor when they are increasing taxes and costs when investors and buyers are paying exhorbitant costs.

Blitz · #**1054** Posted **Jul 13, 2021, 5:24 PM**

Pretty sure property taxes in Windsor are consistent with the provincial average. Over the past 10 years the city has really held the line on taxes very well.

FenderStrat · #**1055** Posted **Jul 15, 2021, 6:04 PM**

Anybody have any idea what's going on with Westcourt Place downtown? I remember back like 2 years ago they had a fire in the parking garage that compromised the electrical system in the whole building, so I know tenants were displaced were a very extended period of time. Just curious if that situation is finally resolved now? I remember there being a class action lawsuit going on too.

AmateurPlanner · #**1056** Posted **Jul 19, 2021, 12:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FenderStrat

Anybody have any idea what's going on with Westcourt Place downtown? I remember back like 2 years ago they had a fire in the parking garage that compromised the electrical system in the whole building, so I know tenants were displaced were a very extended period of time. Just curious if that situation is finally resolved now? I remember there being a class action lawsuit going on too.

I was wondering about this myself, but the most recent article I could find on it is from Nov 2020, and that itself is just mentioning that it was wasn't resolved then, although the building owners mentioned 12-24 months at the time of the article. The court case was hoping for "case certification" in the first quarter of 2021, but not sure of the status of that.

It would be nice to get this building back up and running to get some rental units back online downtown

north 42 · #**1057** Posted **Feb 11, 2022, 3:04 PM**

Nice to see the Windsor CMA move up two spots to the 14th largest metro in Canada, passing Victoria and Oshawa and within 11K of St. Catharines-Niagara. Hopefully the strong growth in the region will continue for the near future.

I’m really hoping for more infill and development in the city’s core neighbourhoods, especially DT. So much potential.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ions_in_Canada

AmateurPlanner · #**1058** Posted **Feb 11, 2022, 6:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by north 42

Nice to see the Windsor CMA move up two spots to the 14th largest metro in Canada, passing Victoria and Oshawa and within 11K of St. Catharines-Niagara. Hopefully the strong growth in the region will continue for the near future.

I’m really hoping for more infill and development in the city’s core neighbourhoods, especially DT. So much potential.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ions_in_Canada

Oh wow, that's really great to see! Especially after the last census showing stagnation, it's great to see new folks moving to the area, and catching up to St.Catharines/Niagara (and even Halifax for that matter) is really cool to see. I hope it continues as well!

There really needs to be a continued focus on intensifying the core neighbourhoods. So far it's been great to see the Development committee advocating for that. Hopefully after the municipal election in October we continue to see that type of development.

Innsertnamehere · #**1059** Posted **Feb 11, 2022, 6:24 PM**

it's catching up mostly because of changes to the definition of the metro area as it added areas like Leamington, Essex, and Harrow to the metro area which weren't included before.

north 42 · #**1060** Posted **Feb 11, 2022, 6:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

it's catching up mostly because of changes to the definition of the metro area as it added areas like Leamington, Essex, and Harrow to the metro area which weren't included before.

Of coarse, but those areas that were added actually show the true size, population and interconnectivity of the region much better than what the previous borders did.

Our old metro area was deceiving and definitely much smaller than most of the other cities in that size range, just look at London and especially Halifax.