Windsor talk

[DetroitSky]

I was in Windsor yesterday and got photos of two renovations:


Walker Power Building


and this small commercial building next to the Canada Building

Other than that I also came across some house renovations near Hotel Dieu Grace, but I didn't get any photos.

[north 42]

Very interesting article about Windsor’s booming economy and recent population growth, the strongest numbers since the early 80s.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...ulation-growth

[north 42]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

I was in Windsor yesterday and got photos of two renovations:


Walker Power Building


and this small commercial building next to the Canada Building

Other than that I also came across some house renovations near Hotel Dieu Grace, but I didn't get any photos.

The Walker Power Building is an Albert Khan design, very excited to see it rehabbed instead of demolished!

The other two buildings on Ouellette Ave. were damaged in a fire a while ago. Work on them is taking forever to start.

There are a few other rehabs that are taking place on Chatham St. DT. One is the old Fish Market building where Quicken Loans is opening up their canadian tech hub, Dan Gilbert’s first investment in Windsor.

[ericmacm]

The new Piroli Group seniors' apartment complex at the intersection of Wyandotte and Crawford is now starting construction. Really happy that something is happening here, hopefully it livens up the intersection a little bit.

[DetWin]

Windsor area experiencing population growth not seen in two decades:

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...ulation-growth

Hi, everyone, being a Windsorite who lived in Detroit in the early 2000s and fell in love with grassroots approach to urban development that existed there, my interest in our beloved little neck of the woods is recognized as an area that has untapped potential. I do hope the little sparks that exist in both the private and public sectors will get us to identify our civic assets. That being said, I think this article identifies an important step in our need to start thinking regionally.

Oops, I didn't realize this article has already been posted here.
That being said, this opinion piece by Gord Henderson, with Rino Bortolin, although fairly light on policy discussion that Gord typically likes reference in his work, is interesting because it is showing as a hint in a change in status quo.
For those who are unaware, the status quo of Windsor includes a relatively small group of elites who have recognized the importance of Windsor to the economy of Ontario but have been able to successfully prevent outsiders coming into the fold. Gord Henderson has been a mouthpiece for the (still strong) influence of former mayor Eddie Francis in the local political sphere.
Rino is the city councilor that represents downtown Windsor (ward 3) and has the challenge of stemming the rising tide of disinvestment of the core. He has been an advocate of the Community Investment Plan which essentially creates tax incentives for real estate investments in the core (which has had some initial success). He has been at odds with the political forces that currently represent the face of the city of Windsor and had a vision that was in the minority on city council up until the past election. There are some new faces with more progressive ideas on civic investments and in their first budget proposal have stayed away from flashy government investments (think WFCU Centre, Adventure Bay) and are more focused on investing in the less sexy but sorely needed investments that lay the foundation for private investment.

https://windsorstar.com/opinion/edit...-elected-twice

[ericmacm]

Canterbury College/U of Windsor new residence is pretty close to being done, will probably see it finished this summer.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by DetWin

Windsor area experiencing population growth not seen in two decades:

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...ulation-growth

Hi, everyone, being a Windsorite who lived in Detroit in the early 2000s and fell in love with grassroots approach to urban development that existed there, my interest in our beloved little neck of the woods is recognized as an area that has untapped potential. I do hope the little sparks that exist in both the private and public sectors will get us to identify our civic assets. That being said, I think this article identifies an important step in our need to start thinking regionally.

Oops, I didn't realize this article has already been posted here.
That being said, this opinion piece by Gord Henderson, with Rino Bortolin, although fairly light on policy discussion that Gord typically likes reference in his work, is interesting because it is showing as a hint in a change in status quo.
For those who are unaware, the status quo of Windsor includes a relatively small group of elites who have recognized the importance of Windsor to the economy of Ontario but have been able to successfully prevent outsiders coming into the fold. Gord Henderson has been a mouthpiece for the (still strong) influence of former mayor Eddie Francis in the local political sphere.
Rino is the city councilor that represents downtown Windsor (ward 3) and has the challenge of stemming the rising tide of disinvestment of the core. He has been an advocate of the Community Investment Plan which essentially creates tax incentives for real estate investments in the core (which has had some initial success). He has been at odds with the political forces that currently represent the face of the city of Windsor and had a vision that was in the minority on city council up until the past election. There are some new faces with more progressive ideas on civic investments and in their first budget proposal have stayed away from flashy government investments (think WFCU Centre, Adventure Bay) and are more focused on investing in the less sexy but sorely needed investments that lay the foundation for private investment.

https://windsorstar.com/opinion/edit...-elected-twice

I agree that city council is definitely leaning more progressive now but that takes away nothing from the Francis years. He came along at just the right time. Before him the unions ran everything, spending was out of control, and the debt was ballooning. Look at the difference today just in the debt. He was the only one who was willing to stand up to the unions and he was elected three times for it. I do like the way this city council is trying to change the car-centric culture and how they're investing in transit and bike lanes and are open to narrowing roads. Look for some big changes to University Ave in the coming years for example.

[north 42]

Yep, Windsor was very lucky to get Francis as mayor at just the right time, the city has never been in better financial shape!

[DetWin]

There was a major transfer of power in the city over the past 10 years with Francis doing an incredibly impressive job of political maneuvering to realign the power structure in the city. Despite him no longer being in office, he has organized his regime to continue to working on his policy work, with Drew Dilkens at the helm. The structure that was set up is remarkably similar to Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Plan which he designed to ensure that his fellow (hand-picked) Virginians maintained federal control. Many people were very impressed with Eddies ability to prevent tax increases during his time in office and there have been many arguments over the transfer of city debt through EnWin. Again, he was very impressive with his political savvy and accounting finesse.
On the surface, there seems to be very little local news reporting (by that I mean city hall muckrakers) in Windsor because we have only the one daily which has well-known allegiances to powerful people within the city.
Despite the relative lack of investigative reporters, the next few years are going to be very interesting as the internal struggle between factions in city council will become more evident than before.

[DetWin]

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...own-excitement

Not much of a story. Now that it is in the city's hands it will be interesting to see how proactive they will be in the recruitment of the desired industries mentioned in the article.

[north 42]

Windsor tops in Ontario for average house price increase: 25% in two years to $343,956

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...ent-in-2-years

[north 42]

Windsor ranked by MoneySense as best place in Canada to buy a home,

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-n...da-to-buy-home

[north 42]

Windsor area among nation’s construction hot spots.

https://beta.windsorstar.com/news/lo...755a0d4c3/amp/

[north 42]

Windsor-area rents rising faster than anywhere in Canada


https://beta.windsorstar.com/news/lo...fb089a55e/amp/

[yupislyr]

Originally Posted by ericmacm

The new Piroli Group seniors' apartment complex at the intersection of Wyandotte and Crawford is now starting construction. Really happy that something is happening here, hopefully it livens up the intersection a little bit.

This building caught on fire today, it was put out quickly though. Lots of smoke in the news photo but damaged estimated at only 10k.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winds...otte-1.5256107

[ericmacm]

New UWindsor sign is going up on top of MacDonald hall, after a repaint of the crowns from brown to a matte blue. I really hope that there are some more renovations planned for these buildings, everything about them needs to get updated.

[north 42]

Windsor/Essex County population projections 2018 to 2046

2018: 423,200
2021: 443,700
2026: 467,500
2031: 488,000
2036: 509,000
2041: 530,600
2046: 552,600

https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy...ns/table4.html

[north 42]

Windsor home prices could rise 9% in 2020, says new report

Windsor should see the largest increase in average home prices of all of the Canadian CMA’s in 2020, after rising 11% in 2019. Average price in 2019 was $335,548, average price expected in 2020 $365,747.

https://windsorite.ca/2019/11/windso...ys-new-report/

[north 42]

Chick-fil-a planning a Windsor location, the second location in Canada.

It will be Located between Devonshire Mall and the Keg on Howard Ave.

https://windsorite.ca/2019/11/chick-...dsor-location/

[Northern Light]

I'm not a local to Windsor, so I'm curious how those of you are felt about the municipal governance review, and its non-report at the end.

I had been thinking that amalgamation in Windsor would have been a good thing, putting the continuous urban area under one planning/governing entity.

Now it appears, if that will happen, it won't be for some years yet.