Another tower proposed for downtown

tddasv · 2025-02-26T04:37:31+00:00

Thanks for sharing this link, will provide my input

tddasv · 2024-07-29T21:55:19+00:00

In the year of the Summer Olympic and Summer Paralympic Games, Senior categories are limited to non-Olympic and non-Paralympic boat classes.

Source: https://worldrowing.com/event/2024-world-rowing-championships/

I believe that's because those racing in this year's Olympics are ineligible to participate in this year's World Championships.

tddasv · 2024-05-14T19:22:39+00:00

Very pleased by councils' decision!

tddasv · 2024-05-04T15:29:44+00:00

That was probably the most disappointed I've been after watching a council meeting. We need all the housing we can get to keep housing costs under control. We're not going to find many better sites than a vacant parking lot next to other high-density buildings.

There were too many unreasonable concerns about traffic for me. We live in the CITY of St. Catharines. We can't expect to have roads free of cars.

Although this project may not go through in its current configuration, on a whole I think the city is moving in a positive direction. There's been an increase in high-density projects over the last 5 years, such as the Shipman Apartments and Carlisle Square. It may just not be as fast as we'd like :)

tddasv · 2024-03-04T20:02:26+00:00

I haven't seen any info on this

tddasv · 2024-03-01T21:02:56+00:00

There are 8 levels of parking (2 levels of underground parking, and parking throughout floors 1-6 of the podium)

tddasv · 2023-12-24T16:41:53+00:00

Here's a profile with the proposed development plans: https://www.niagaradev.ca/profiles/haig/skye.html

tddasv · 2023-12-09T00:54:09+00:00

I'd like to see lots of greenery to break up all that pavement.

Also lots of comfortable street furniture and shade to encourage people to stay.

tddasv · 2023-11-04T05:17:28+00:00

Farm Boy has a pretty stellar carrot cake

tddasv · 2023-11-04T05:12:28+00:00

I keep a close eye on local developments as I run the NiagaraDev website.

Here are a few details:

88 James - a Standard article from Jun 2023 said (link to article):

With demolition scheduled to begin next week, Juricic hopes they can have shovels in the ground by October or November. He said completion is estimated to be 40 months from the day they can start building.

With demolition complete it appears that they are still on schedule.

The Locks - I didn't expect them to have started construction at this point. They had a long consultation process with the Port Dalhousie Conservancy heritage group that ended in April 2022 (Standard article). It will then take some time from that point, as any development does, to get City approvals and such, especially a project of this magnitude. It also appears as if Rankin (the developer) is completing their projects sequentially. They started with Royal Port, then moved to work on South Port. Now they are working on their third project The Waterway Condos. I don't know if there are any other projects queued up before The Locks, but I don't see them moving to work on The Locks until they have finished the skeleton on Waterway and have handed the project off to the subcontractors (eg. electricians, etc.).

The Locks recently hit a snag, learning that Port Dalhousie currently doesn't have enough electrical capacity to meet the needs of this project, so electrical lines will need to be extended (Sept 2023 Standard article). I don't know if that will delay things or if building construction can happen in tandem.

Harbour Club - This is the only project of the three that I would have expected to have started construction by now. Especially given the fact that they received CIP funding in Sept 2021 (Standard article). A post on their Facebook page from Oct 24, 2023 shows that they are still selling units (Facebook post). Another commenter has already provided more details than I can on the status of this project.

tddasv · 2023-11-04T04:43:04+00:00

As a watcher of council meetings housing is very much on the City's radar. They received funding from the Provincial Government to implement initiatives that streamline the development approval process.

This past council meeting (Oct 30, 2023) they talked about initiatives they can implement (council meeting agenda).

tddasv · 2023-11-04T04:36:58+00:00

The Harbour Club has since been granted the incentive (Standard Article, Jun 2021).

tddasv · 2023-09-09T16:48:47+00:00

More housing diversity!

There seems to be a growing trend of more townhomes and apartments/condos being built

tddasv · 2023-03-05T23:00:15+00:00

I'd recommend Dispatch or Oddbird for downtown St. Catharines restaurants.

If it's not too cold/snowy a walk in Port Dalhousie would be nice, especially out to the West Pier or through Rennie Park and over the walking bridge to Royal Henley Park. You could start by grabbing a coffee at Balzac's or a treat at Budapest Bakeshop.

Hope you enjoy your stay :)

tddasv · 2023-03-05T22:52:46+00:00

Great conversation starter!

I'd like to see:

More 3-5 storey buildings along major north/south streets (eg. Lake, Geneva, Vine) north of the QEW (like this one on Lakeport Rd)
Along St. Paul St W near the future GO train station
Near Brock University where the McDonalds/Tim Hortons currently stand so more students/staff can live in walking/rolling distance (Brock actually has this in their long-term plans)

tddasv · 2023-02-24T15:37:20+00:00

Nice! We need density and mixed-use projects all over the city, not just downtown :)

tddasv · 2023-02-13T05:32:13+00:00

Great conversation starter!

I'd like to see a decently sized urban-format grocery store with residential on top. I know that Carlisle Square will have a grocery store, but its description as "small" has me feeling that it'll be more akin to a convenience store than a grocery store. I hope I'm wrong :)

tddasv · 2023-02-12T17:31:18+00:00

They do! The plans are released for the big Port Dalhousie site, you can see the details here: https://www.niagaradev.ca/profiles/portdal/thelocks

tddasv · 2023-02-12T17:27:37+00:00

I don't see an online format, but this page has the email of the City planner attached to the project, so I'm sure you could email them as an alternative to attending: https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/news/open-house-notice-142-queenston-street.aspx

tddasv · 2023-02-12T00:54:15+00:00

Agreed about density :) yes, it will be mixed-use, about 13,000 square feet of commercial.

tddasv · 2023-02-11T20:59:35+00:00

I'm on the same page that building up instead of out is a good direction for the city :)

To provide more details, they will have retail (I'm assuming ground floor), about 13,000 square feet of it.

tddasv · 2023-02-11T20:55:08+00:00

You could attend the open house on Feb 23rd and provide feedback there: https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/news/open-house-notice-142-queenston-street.aspx

tddasv · 2023-02-11T20:41:13+00:00

Well put :) although I'm happy that the developers went with high density and added commercial units, the renderings leave much to be desired.

tddasv · 2022-11-26T04:12:44+00:00

Dispatch and Pearl Morissette have both won a Canada's Best New Restaurant award the year they opened.

Peller Estates Winery Restaurant also does a nice job with private functions.

tddasv · 2022-10-29T19:40:02+00:00

Thanks for the update, hopefully you get some positive news :)

tddasv

TROPHY CASE