Proposed Downtown Redevelopment Plan
Here it is. Hold on to your socks!
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2...-18751161.html All I can say is WOW. |
Pretty neat. I love having a skyscraper in place of the parking lot of the JLC.
Artificial beach at the forks?!?!?!? where is Tim Best's drive-thru liquor emporium? |
Wow is right...lets see it happen
I like the idea of UWO taking over the old city hall and making it an education center it's a great area for something like that. Also that means a new City Hall would be built and they can stop leasing 20 different buildings downtown which does not make sense in the long run financially. It's okay if they are going to lease space outside the core in sections of the city, the downtown City hall should be able to accommodate everything that is needed in that building. |
Wow, that would be pretty amazing if London could pull all that off. What is the time frame for this to happen?
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However that said it seems like UWO wants the old city hall sooner than later so that part of the plan could realistically start to take place pretty soon. I feel that is the first logical step for any of this "vision" |
Go Tall
Interesting proposals - wonder which one would be the new City Hall.
I am very much a GO BIG person and strongly feel that the area around the JLC should have taller buildings than this proposes....
This would give the downtown multiple nodes and would be a really great skyline and overall would be similar to the transformation in Austin TX - a young hip city we should be using as a role model! Build all that and you'll not only get people staying after University/College, other will move here! |
Why a link to the free press? Here's the actual PDF: http://www.london.ca/Planning_and_De...pt_28_2011.pdf
Nothing here is mentioned about a new City Hall or UWO taking up the current location. I'd love to see a new city hall though. Big questions on this vision. Where is the bus terminal? With Dundas becoming a pedestrian mall and the loss of connections on Ridout and King, where will all the buses go? Not sure I like that beach/pool thing, but freeing up the land where the health unit is a fantastic idea. |
:banana:Amazing! My First impression and I am blown away! Sure, there are a few issues, mainly the pond/beach thing, and the designs of some of the buildings, but to know that the people that run your city are thinking like this is a great start! I really like the idea of a tower at the JLC, one north of the courthouse, and the two on the west side of Victoria Park. And Fontana is so serious, he is aiming for a 5 year completion scheduele! The optimist in me can't control my excitement about these downtown plans!:D
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Yea the pond/beach thing is a bit extreme...I mean what would we do with it in the winter? Skating I suppose.
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A few things to mention:
- All of the renderings in the presentation are nothing more than ideas. It is likely that none of the new buildings as rendered will actually be constructed as they appear in the renderings (if they get built at all). - The new city hall is the green glass building at the forks. - Most of the sites shown are currently underutilized public lands. There are other privately owned sites downtown that could develop at any time independent of this plan. - Most of what is shown is private residential developments on public lands. The two exceptions are Farhi-held lands, which is of interest. There is half a billion dollars worth of private residential/retail development shown. Will the investors and developers come and build on these sites? A big question. - Don't get too hung up on the beach. It's just a bold and intentionally unorthodox concept designed to show that the planning team wants to do something big on the waterfront and that's the key message. The final waterfront feature will likely end up being something very different. - Because these are mostly just ideas presented, not all things shown will likely come to pass (such as the bridges over the river at Queen, and Wellington, being replaced with cable-stayed structures). The best bet for short-term action is Western getting the current city hall/Cooper square/Centennial Hall site and the City building a new city hall at the forks along with the waterfront feature. Even this is not a slam-dunk though and there will be a battle to get this passed. IMO, if that alone happened it would be huge enough. -The important take-away from this presentation is the signalling of a paradigm shift. Basically, the "progressives" led by the mayor are saying that the City needs to "go big or go home" in all sorts of new and exciting ways. If they manage to win the day, things could get very exciting very fast. - The burning question in my mind however is if the Dundas Steak House will be any good? |
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Overall I like the vision. Joe wants to get a lot of this done in 5 years. He's got stones, I'll give him that. If you've ever talked with the mayor, he has a very 'can do' attitude. What he wants done he wants done now, and the majority of it is good for the city, at least in my opinion. ...Now to await the nay-sayer's from this project in the Free Press and elsewhere. :P |
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Looks like it would be a great series of developments and hopefully London will not only get a new City Hall but a real performing arts centre.
Couple of things.............were do they propose to put the buses and what exactly are they going to do with Dundas? Finally they should have high archetectural standing and forbid any more concrete monsters which looks like they have but I won't believe it until I see it writing. |
GO JOE!!!!!!!!!!!:tup::tup::tup::tup::tup::tup::tup:
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I hate to be a naysayer but it's all hypothetical "what if's" and "would've, could've, should've's" as far as the city is concerned.
The only one that is realistic idea is the revitalization of South Street hospital into some residential high-rise and that is only feasible if the provinces kicks in the money to tear down the old structure and a developer begins construction ASAP which quickest would be 2015. New city hall!? I don't think that's needed, there's plenty of surplus office space in downtown London, which could either be rent, bought (i.e. expropriated from slumlord Farhi). The land south of London hydro HQ has yet to face an environmental assessment, which I'm sure would dredge up some nice violations/penalties courtesy of Labatt's. As well who wants to live within smelling distance of fermenting beer and electrical conversion!? The area at Dundas & South of the forks is all a fantasy. Who is going to build a 40+ condo high-rise next to JLC?! What is the city going to do about west-bound traffic from riverside!? (no apparent connection to King street and Dundas is apparently a pedestrian). As well Dundas is going to be pedestrianized on w whim. And an artificial "beach" despite the fact there are 2 great lakes within 40-60 minutes of London. I think the idea has good intentions, I'd like to see downtown revitalized as well. However like many of London's previous grand ideas just has the lack of money, government/public support and most importantly private financiers. Wishful thinking, but not realistic! |
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As great of a plan it is for your downtown, I really doubt that all or much of it would be able to get built in only 5 years. It's a great blueprint to have though to steer developement in the coming years. I can't wait to drive up and see some of it being implemented, very exciting.
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When I saw the LFP spread on the proposed reworking of the downtown core, I was gobsmacked with how ambitious the entire project is. Well, Joe Fontana did warn everyone that the plan to be presented would be astounding and I guess I wasn't prepared because I was expecting it to be the usual hyped-up ho-hum incrementalism.
If Mayor Fontana could push this proposal through and actually get it built, it could be the crowning achievement for his political career, and could even propel him into a second term, if he's wants one. The project could also make downtown revitalization no longer just a dream, but reality. It could also turn London's fortunes around for the better, help pull it out of its hidebound, backwater, backwards-looking past, and plunk it down firmly into the 21st century. In other words, it could really and truly put London on the map. I can see it all now... tourist brochures and ads saying, "Come see what the other London has to offer!" The urban mini-lake and beach is really unique - I don't know of any other municipalities that have anything comparable. However, the cynic in me is all too aware of how many times we've seen these kinds of proposals before, only to see them go nowhere, held up by 50 years of dithering, or be endlessly blocked by people and factions with an axe to grind. London definitely needs a new city hall. A new building wouldn't cost substantially more than renovating the old one. Leasing a bunch of disparate buildings is not the answer - while it might save some money, it's a stop-gap measure intended to deal with the problem of insufficient space. Sure, some governmental functions can be decentralized, but only where it makes sense to do so. I'm just hoping that my initial amazement doesn't turn to disappointment later. |
As long as transport is improved, this plan will succeed.
Let's get a bus terminal in the downtown and a a freeway which will provide quick, efficent access from the 400-series to central London. It 'can' be done. We have the technology. |
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