London Construction - Development News Thread#1

[GreatTallNorth2]

If it is anything like CityPlace T.O., that will be awesome, but CityPlace London is horrible IMO. How do you know all this info? Did you also hear plans of a hotel? Anything else going on downtown that you know of?

[Snark]

..

[ldoto]

More riders, more requests for service face London Transit

By BEN BENEDICT, The Londoner

London Transit carried 18.4 million riders last year, an increase of 49 per cent over the past nine years. The city-owned system operates over 33 routes.


Londoners are showing an increased interest in and use of public transit. While a positive in many respects it can result in over-crowed buses, missed riders or delayed schedules and missed connections for new and regular users alike.

The London Transit Commission is currently in the process of outlining and implementing new resources like the gas tax to tackle these issues in conjunction with the objective set out by the City of London’s master plan.

Larry Ducharme, general manager of London Transit, explains the constraints of the past several years and the looming opportunities that will become evident in the next two years.

The city-owned bus line has shown success – ridership is up by 49 per cent over the past nine years and grew last year by one per cent to 18.4 million rides. One Londoner in two rode the bus at least once last year. Mr. Ducharme and his staff are under pressure by city council to make ridership gains as a less costly alternative to expensive road-widening projects. But London’s love affair with the car is a difficult habit to break.

“Our short, medium and long-term strategies are influenced by a number of activities,” Mr. Ducharme says. “Our strategies takes direction from the city’s master plan and the transportation master plan - the city’s official plan on how the city will grow and develop influences how we get there. They are the two most significant influences.

“We need to start making critical decisions today on how we view transit.”

To assist in the development of these plans Mr. Ducharme would like to see more transit-friendly land-use guidelines with a move from “shall give consideration to,” to “shall do it.”

Initiatives currently in the works are the further development of smart bus technology and service delivery. Smart buses use digital technology, both in the fare box and in the sky, to enhance service and reduce costs. Some day soon, for example, you might use the equivalent of a cash card to pay for your daily fare. And how often buses run on your route might be regulated by satellite based Global Positioning Systems.

“It’s our response to the direction set out by the May, 2004, transportation master plan. It’s in some final discussions right now. It’s coming, we’re about a month out now,” Mr. Ducharme says.

When it comes to service delivery, the key component is scheduling.

“The first order of business is defining the service – routing and frequency – and it’s an integral service that covers all the city. The design and frequency varies by day, time and time of year. We look at the city based on needs and the physical environment in which we work. That design equals X number of revenue service hours – when the busses are carrying passengers,” Mr. Ducharme says.

Currently there are 520,000 revenue hours per year on 33 routes plus an additional five percent or 25,000 hours to and from the routes for a total of about 545,000 hours of service to provide vehicles and manpower for according to Mr. Ducharme.

“We need 143 to 145 buses Monday to Friday during a.m. and p.m. peaks. After 9 p.m. I need 50 buses and from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. I need 100 buses. It shows the variability,” Mr. Ducharme says.

In addition to actual needs there are union agreements and the Employment Standards Act that must be considered in delivering a financially viable service.

“Bus schedules are derived from work assignments and the public timetable that goes on the website. We track the two schedules in our automatic vehicle locations system. There is hardware on the buses and beacons around the city. It shows us real time performances against the scheduled times. The software is dated at present. It allows the system to be adjusted or callers to find out real time information. This is what we are trying to enhance,” Mr. Ducharme says.

The goal over the next several years is to use provincial and federal gas tax dollars to invest in new technologies to address scheduling woes.

“Our objective is to have display models in real time displays on about six key roads throughout the city. We’re looking at the smart bus technology to integrate with the traffic signals. It may extend a green or shorten a red light depending on how far down the bus is on the schedule. This has to be flushed out yet,” Mr. Ducharme says. “One of the issues we have is a reliance on schedules that can be interrupted for many reasons. The more times you have to stop it takes time. As the system becomes more popular that happens. Right now we just add busses. In response to services reliability, overcrowding and linking schedules, we need a system that communicates in real time, bus to bus, and a system design that allows you to be more efficient. We looked at upgrading to a higher level of transit service.”

The key drivers to the program include transit priority through integration with traffic signals, provincial yield to bus legislation, to announce next stop is in voice and display to riders on the bus, the use of an infrared passenger count for detailed route planning by time of day, and real time info displays including automatic updates on the website, according to Mr. Ducharme.

“We’re developing the Global Positioning System right now. A total of $5.3 million in investments are to be integrated in 2007 and by the end of 2008 it will be completed,” Mr. Ducharme says.

In a recent staff report to city council, Mr. Ducharme presented an overview of customer service activity and system performance for 2005. The report highlights information collected from a variety of communication tools including calls to London Transit’s information line, a summary of public contacts, a summary of conventional transit contacts, a breakdown of complaints and website information.

London Transit received 188,070 telephone calls in 2005, down five per cent from 2004, but the website received 918,760 page visits, up 39 per cent over the 659,192 visits in 2004. This increase in web activity also resulted in fewer public timetables being printed in 2005. Ridership also increased by one per cent in 2005 to 18.4 million trips by riders.

Contacts relating to conventional transit totalled 2,493 up by 164 contacts over 2004. These are the compliments, requests and complaints. Of the 144 service development requests, 69 were related to existing routes and schedules and 55 related to requests for services in newly developing areas like Hyde Park (15), Uplands (five), North Talbot (five), and Lambeth (five). This related to existing routes, accessibility and convenience of schedules.

“Adding a minute to a bus route, going from 15 to 10 minutes between buses, I can’t do this without adding a bus at $450,000 for the bus (12 to 18 hours per bus) plus $250,000 in operating cash. You can see how we have to be selective,” Mr. Ducharme says.

The majority of compliments came in the area of service performance (21) and operator performance (102). These were also the areas that exhibited the highest number of complaints. The report indicates that complaints about operator performance (951) related largely to driving and attitude. Service performance complaints (777) related to missed passengers and on-time performance.

The report provides a number of factors that contributed to these issues including the pressures of ridership growth (49 per cent over the last nine years) and the availability of reliable, predictable and dependable service to meet the needs of growth. Other issues were associated with increased traffic congestion, weather, and the changing and competing needs of riders.
__________________

[ldoto]

London housing market is hot, says surveyThu, May 18, 2006

Value of a 'typical' home has increased almost 50 per cent

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



A new survey shows London has the third-hottest housing market in Ontario with prices up almost 50 per cent in the last five years. The Century 21 survey shows the value of a “typical” three-bedroom bungalow in London has shot up 48 per cent since 2001, from $131,000 to $194,000.

London’s increase was just behind Peterborough (54 per cent) and Kitchener (51 per cent).

Costa Poulopoulos, president of the London and St. Thomas Real Estate board, said London has been catching up in recent years after lagging behind the real-estate boom seen in the Greater Toronto Area and other regions.

He said the sharp rise in real estate is good news to London homeowners even if they have no intention of selling their homes.

“They find that homes similar to their own are selling for a lot more money and that boosts confidence.”

But Poulopoulos said London is still affordable for new home buyers.

“We are still under the $200,000 price point, which is amazing compared to other major metropolitan areas.”

Poulopoulos said London realtors are seeing clients from the Toronto area who are selling their homes and buying much more impressive homes for less money in London.

There are predictions the London market would slow down this year, but real-estate board figures show sales of detached homes are three per cent ahead of the same period in 2005.

Don Lawby, President of Century 21 Canada said the biggest price increases in Canada since 2001 were in Vernon, B. C. (129 per cent) northeast Calgary (121 per cent) and Fort McMurray (105 per cent.)

The survey found housing prices have increased faster than most other goods or services including food, automobiles, recreation and post-secondary tuition.

Lawby said part of the increase is due to a dwindling supply of land for residential development.

“We are seeing taller buildings on smaller footprints to keep costs down,” he said

Another new survey, released Thursday by RBC Economics, showed the affordability of housing is declining because of higher prices and increasing mortgage rates.

The RBC survey showed housing costs in Vancouver, including taxes and utilities, were eating up 64 per cent of a typical household’s monthly pre-tax income. In Toronto, the figure was 41.7 per cent.

But as long as mortgage rates remain relatively low and the economy remains strong, Lawby said the housing market should stay strong.

“We will continue to have a good market - maybe not spectacular - but close to last year,” said Lawby.

[ldoto]

update!

A photo update of the affordable housing project on Dundas?
This is from the backside of Dundas beside the market.

[Tony]

^ excellent. I wasn't even aware that was suppose to be affordable housing.

Thanks

[ldoto]

435 Colborne Street, London
Available in spring 2007, these two bedroom executive units offer luxury living at its best.

Six-storey residential condos in the heart of downtown London
Only 40 units available
All are spacious two bedrooms units
Main floor commercial space
Convenient underground parking on two levels

[ckkelley]

It's so nice to see pictures of my hometown.

I left London in April 1990.

I'm glad to see downtown is on the rebound. When I left, downtown was happenin'.

ps. the more pics, the better!

[ldoto]

Update!Hooters Restaurant and new strip mall.

New Hooters Restaurant Opening up in london on Wharncliffe road with a new strip mall.

[Tony]

^ uggg.. just what is needed in that area, another strip mall. I guess nothing else would really fit in now at this point.

[Blitz]

Wharncliffe Road sucks.

[Snark]

..

[Tony]

Originally Posted by Snark

When I was a kid (over some 30 years ago), Wharncliffe Rd. was the main westerly gateway that led right into the core of the City (if one doesn't include the 401, which one actually accessed from the South of the city in those days). Up to the early/mid 1970's, it had some of the more prestegous businesses located on it then: Patton's Place furnature, the London Winery, The Seven Dwarves restaurant, Hooks restaurant, the largest Canadian Tire store (in its day), and many others.

I guess at least it has EQ3! - awesome stuff there, just way overpriced.

[ldoto]

Update!


New westmount Estates two
335 southdale rd.w.

[ldoto]

White Oaks Mall grows

Fri, May 26, 2006

A chunk of the mall is being redeveloped, with new space for retailers catering to youth.

By KATE DUBINSKI, FREE PRESS REPORTER




White Oaks Mall is expanding. (Ken Wightman, LFP)
London's second-largest mall is redeveloping a chunk of its interior and adding new space for retailers catering to young, hip shoppers.

Savvy shoppers are already buzzing about one of the retailers, clothing and accessory retailer H&M of Sweden, moving into White Oaks Mall.

"I've never shopped there. I just can't wait. I can't wait. I'm so excited," a gleeful Salma Meddaoui, 19, said yesterday.

Her friend, Silvia Fuentes, 28, who's been to H&M's Toronto store, rattled off the store's special mix of clothing and pricing, noting: "Everyone I've talked to can't wait."

The H&M is part of an expansion and renovation of White Oaks that suggests the south London shopping centre is bucking the trend -- big-box retailers -- that's hurt and even killed other malls.


"The young shoppers, especially, have heard rumours, and they're reacting. They're excited," said Jim Hewer, the mall's general manager.

"We've had lots of questions, but until recently we've kept things under wraps."

Construction began in February. The new space will allow for a new south-end entranceway; the H&M store; a U.S.-based Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar, the mall's first sit-down restaurant in years; and Canadian clothing retailer Urban Behavior.

The expansion and redevelopment is in the mall's south quadrant and includes redesign.

The area the new stores will move into was once considered more of a "service corridor," Hewer said, but will now be the mall's fashion central.

Other stores in the redesign:

- Jacob, Jacob Connexion, Jacob Lingerie and Jacob Jr., all in one area, the first time the Montreal-based retailer has tried the concept in Canada.

- Shoe store Aldo and sister store Aldo Accessories.

- Roots; Icing by Claire's, an accessory store catering to a more mature crowd than sister store Claire's; and Watch It, an accessory store.

"We're enhancing the overall mall. We've got strength here, we've got two very strong anchors, The Bay and Wal-Mart, and we've got a great location," Hewer said of the mall's expansion.

About one-third of the White Oaks Mall's shoppers come from outside London along the Highway 401 corridor.

That traffic, in an era when big-box stores are gobbling up the retail landscape, is key to the mall's success, some say.

And the mall is on the right track by putting hip clothing and accessory stores close to each other, said John Winter, a Toronto retail analyst.

"Apparel and accessories are so egocentric that you want to walk around to compare and contrast what's right for you," Winter said.

"The big-box stores certainly have taken over some of the market, such as home improvement. But the big, enclosed malls still have a function for clothing.

"You walk down the hall and cross-shop in a climate-controlled environment."

By mid-July, construction at White Oaks will be finished and the new spaces handed over to retailers, who will add the finishing touches to create their atmosphere, Hewer said.

Hewer declined to reveal the cost of the expansion.

Although the mall is growing, it isn't adding new parking. The expansion is eating into some existing surface parking, but 100 new spots will be created underground, almost totally offsetting the lost spaces, Hewer said.

A grand opening is planned for late fall, but individual retailers will likely open sooner, Hewer said.

BY THE NUMBERS

- 60,000: Total square footage of space at White Oaks Mall being redeveloped, more than half of it new space.

- 1973: Year mall built.

- 33: Percentage of mall customers from outside London.

- 185: Stores in the mall.

- 60-90: Days average retailer takes to take store from newly-built to ready for opening.

[MolsonExport]

^I'm surprised that the article did not mention London's famous shrinking mall, the Westmount Shopping Centre.

[gmania]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

YEAH! more commie-blocks!

I had a great view of downtown London when I lived on the 11th floor of one of those commie blocks.

Good old Proudfoot Lane....

[gmania]

Originally Posted by ldoto

UWO to undergo $230 million revamp

Thu, May 11, 2006

By PETER GEIGEN-MILLER, LONDON FREE PRESS REPORTER



The University of Western Ontario plans to spend $230 million over the next seven years on 15 major construction, renovation and relocation projects.

The long-range construction program, announced Thursday at a media briefing, will provide 70,000 square metres of new space for classrooms, laboratories and related facilities.

An additional 85,000 square metres of existing space will be renovated to meet current teaching and research requirements, said UWO president Paul Davenport.

The additional space is needed to help Western deal with a space crunch caused by growing enrolment, especially in graduate programs, and increasing demand for lab and research space, said vice-president academic Fred Longstaffe.

The projects will be financed from a variety of sources including Western’s capital and operating budgets, federal and provincial grants and fundraising.

For the full story, read Friday’s London Free Press on the web or in print.

I went to Western from 1999-2005 and I couldn't believe the changes in that time period. I wonder how much more green space they can destroy with the construction or how far they can expand away from the core of campus?

[Snark]

..

[gmania]

Originally Posted by Snark

Spent 1985 and 1986 at Proudfoot. Wild times and unforgetable memories. Strangly enough, I know a lot of people who have passed through there - and am still meeting people 20 years later who spent time there. Seems like some sort of rite of passage.

Some may call them Commie blocks (and that is somewhat understandable), but if they were built like the Taj Mahal, I would have had to pay a lot more than the $475/mo rent that I was paying for what were some pretty nice digs for a guy in his early 20's.

I lived at 560 Proudfoot from 2002-2003. Rent was up to $700/month (1-bedroom without utilities) but pretty sweet when you figure it was 1096 square feet and had a great view.

I know what you mean about wild times... So many great memories as friends lived in four different buildings on the street. If I ever moved back to London, I would move downtown, but you never forget the Proudfoot...