Last week I took a drive out to the sprawled out mess at Walker and the 401. My reasons were two fold.
1. I was trying to get a few shots to display at the Check Out This Sprawl exhibit, and…
2. I wanted to see what all the crying was about, although I must confess I feel little pity in my heart for those who build/buy a crappy cookie cutter house hard up against a highway. I think you get what you deserve…
Anyway, on with the show!
Crammed in like sardines.
This is living. I heard it compared before, how street in new sub divisions serve the same purpose alley’s did for old neighbourhoods. A place to park you car, put our your trash, and access to your garage.
Every street looks the same. Seriously.
Yay! Triplets!
Seriously?
Yup. Unicorn Street. I would be embarrassed to tell people I lived on Unicorn Street.
Here’s someone with a nice view of the machinery rebuilding the 401. Three cars too… A pickup and an SUV. Glad I don’t have that gas bill.
Garages with attached houses. The landscaping might look like crap, but at least they got that fancy stampcrete driveway installed.
I know it all comes down to personal preference, but I couldn’t live in a place like that. I like the fact that I can park my car on the weekends, and walk and/or ride my bike wherever I need to go.
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in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
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Take a look at the future slums of North America! I will take the bleakness of the core, with nearness of the river, than to live in such expensive, dreary, soul killing, life destroying crapville as pictured above and my tax dollars are subsidizing that manure pile! The alleys of old Windsor have more personality than the streets of suburbia!
Little boxes made of ticky tacky?
As much as I hate new developments like the one you pictured, the only real way to judge their total effect is to go back and look at them after 15 years or so, after the "new" has worn off. They look a little better after the landscaping has matured and the homeowners have added their own personal touches to their property.
Wonder what the lot size is?
Anderew, did you notice any park space nearby? Perhaps theres pleanty of public spaces with trees to offset the beige on beige and makes living palletable?
Doug - I agree that only time will telll.
Using the city GIS tool - http://mapmycity.citywindsor.ca/gis/
It appears the average lot size in that subdivision is 44.95 x 100.07
Fausto - I believe that there are parks in the subdivision.I'm fairly certian that it is a requirement by the city when a new sub-division is built.
Thanks Andrew!, I only asked because there is a similar subdivision near me (although its hard to tell - it could be the very same one!) and when I inquired when the park would be built, the response was something about how the developer was not required to build a park space until a certain percentage of the lots were sold and built. This subdivison is 12 years old. Its shameful because families will likely raise their kids until they leave the house before the park is built.
But, hey! its a great deal for the developer though isn't !!! ..so it must be ok.
i hate houses designed like that with the garage in front and narrow yards. house design these days is so terrible. i'd rather have no garage and a nice design that these new homes.
And, it's cheaper to live in the core too. The cheapest property on Unicorn St. in sprawlsville is a bungalow going for $190K. 100'x45' lot compared to downtown with 35'x120' lots: http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3dResidential%26ret%3d300%26sts%3d0-0%26beds%3d0-0%26baths%3d0-0%26ci%3dwindsor%26pro%3d2%26st%3dunicorn%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d0-0-4%26trt%3d2%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26o%3dA&Mode=0&PropertyID=5972430
Forget about fixing up 2 storey handyman specials for $60K in downtown. You want two storey on Unicorn St., no probs, only $100K more than the bungalow on the same sized lot:
http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3dResidential%26ret%3d300%26sts%3d0-0%26beds%3d0-0%26baths%3d0-0%26ci%3dwindsor%26pro%3d2%26st%3dunicorn%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d0-0-4%26trt%3d2%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26o%3dA&Mode=0&PropertyID=6615958
V8s and overpriced sprawsville homes, who says Windsor is undergoing a recession??
I personally wouldn't want anything built by "habib" homes, they have no character, or presence. Completely boring to me, when I buy...It will be an older home with old world charm. What makes these homes worth 189,000, or 279,000.00? I don't see it at all.
Its not like there is an affordable alternative to buying one of these cookie cutter homes. The older neighbourhoods tend to be more rundown.
And it seems too compicated to buy a lot and build a unique homestyle.
I would think municipality's planning departments have to get involved here and sell lots in a developing neighbourhood, maybe even on a singular basis instead of a contractor buying a whole neighbourhood and building the same design with the garage on opposite sides over and over again.