St. Rose Development

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• "Windsor’s history is one of grand plans, and massive deveolpoments that never came to be." - wow......i don't think that could have been said any better andrew.
  howcome wyndotte is called ottawa when the ottawa street we know now, already existed? i noticed that in a map john sent me of the sw&a when i was drawing the routes out on a current map. was that a common thing to do way back when? that's a really nice church that i can't say i've seen before.
  - wyndotte and st. rose, only half hour to the center of the border cities! LOL!!!!!

• That sounds fairly cheap for a serviced lot. In 1925, you could buy a Model T Roadster for $260 and the avg. yearly wage was about $1,400. Today, a serviced lot without a house in that area is around what, $40,000+?

  Have you ever come across the ad for Jackson Park, when they developed the area from Giles to Tecumseh Rd. with Kennedy HS? I've always wondered what that ad would have looked like.

• Bid to save church rejected
  Diocese to sell St. Rose despite parish protests

  Sonja Puzic
  Windsor Star

  Friday, February 29, 2008

  Despite outrage from parishioners, a lawsuit threat and an opportunity to make $2 million by selling another Windsor church, the Roman Catholic diocese of London says it will still close St. Rose of Lima church this summer and put it up for sale.

  "The decision will not be reversed," the diocese's spokesman, Mark Adkinson said Thursday.

  Before the diocese even announced last summer the six Windsor churches slated for closure as part of a massive restructuring effort, members of St. Rose of Lima vowed they would not give up their church without a fight.

  A letter-writing campaign began and a petition was circulated. London diocese Bishop Ronald Fabbro eventually agreed to meet with a group of St. Rose parishioners to discuss the issue. But the meeting, held earlier this month, was "very disappointing," said Melissa Bezaire.

  "We had assumed that the purpose of the meeting was to give us a chance to get some of our concerns addressed, and of course, none of them were, which left us pretty upset," said Bezaire, who has been attending St. Rose church for 13 years.

  Bezaire said the group presented a "strong case" to keep St. Rose open, relying on "logical sense" rather than just emotions. But she said Fabbro did not relent.

  Many say it will be very difficult for the diocese to sell St. Rose church, which was designated a heritage site by city council in June 2007. The heritage designation protects the building from demolition, unless council permission is given.

  "It will be nearly impossible to sell," said Lou Mikhail of Mikhail Holdings. Mikhail has offered the diocese $2 million -- it had originally offered $1 million -- for nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe church on Raymo Road, which is supposed to absorb the St. Rose and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes. But parishioners say it needs "significant" upgrades and repairs,.

  The sale of Our Lady of Guadalupe would save St. Rose church and allow the diocese to avoid a potentially long and costly battle with the family which donated the land for St. Rose. The property was given to the diocese by the grandfather of Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac, who said Thursday her family will proceed with a lawsuit if the church is closed.

  Some of the $2 million offered for Our Lady of Guadalupe would go into a trust fund for the church that remains and for St. Peter's Seminary in London, Mikhail said.

  "From a real estate perspective, it's a no brainer," he said. "You have a church that you can't sell and you're in a need of funds. And then you have someone that wants to buy the church down the road and offer you $2 million."

  Mikhail, who wants to build a commercial development on the Our Lady of Guadalupe site, said "there is still room to reconsider."

  The London diocese has objected to the St. Rose church heritage designation and is waiting to hear from the Ontario Conservation Review board, Adkinson said.

  "It's painful whenever we have to close a parish, but we want parishes where 75 per cent of the capacity is going to be utilized," he said. The diocese has determined that if St. Rose remains open and absorbs Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes, its capacity would be at 93 per cent. Our Lady of Guadalupe's, on the other hand, will be at just under 60 per cent, which will accommodate future growth in the area, Adkinson said.

  Even if the diocese sells the St. Rose building, any commercial development will be opposed, said St. Rose's parish council chair, Diane Loeffen.

  "We'll even file a papal appeal against the closure," she said. "We need to do this at the grassroots."

  "I truly believe that this is going to work. I believe that we are going to be OK. Something will happen."

  ©

• Isn't this the one the diocese already offered to sell to the city for $1 ?

• John they are "offering" the city most of the churches they want closed. You see, it is all about the $$$ and nothing to do about the people; straight against the teachings of Jesus Christ himself.

  The ad even shows streetcar service out to Riverside. What do we have now? A piss-poor bus service that extends out to the border on only a few routes.
  Bring back the streetcars and shelve this cockamamy "grand canal" idea, tunnel purchase (imagine what $75 million would do for better transportation in this city) or any other of The King's idea's.

• David - I have yet to come acorss an ad for that subdivision.

  James T - They have since changed their mind. It is open, but they are not allowing weddings, funeral or baptisms to take place...

  John - No that was Our Lady of the Rosary on Riverside and Drouillard.

  The church was designated last year, and the dicoese is fighting it. There will be a hearing before the Conservation Review Board in November to argue the case of preservation. The church was built on land donated to the diocesse by Councilor JoAnne Giniac's grand father.

• Aaron - Wyandotte St. in the 20's was known as Ottawa St. east of Walker. It wasn't until the 1930's when the underpass was dug (that was recently filled in) that the streets even met. When amalgamation came the change occured since there was already an Ottawa St.

• Andrew- Can you come up with somthing from the devonshire heights area, the orginal area was called Hall Farms then was re-named Hall Estates then re-named devonshire heights.I Know the area it not as old and nice as above but my family was the first to move in to one of those homes and my Mom still lives in the home since 1980.

• ME > Agree 100% (with your comments on streetcars vs canal).

  Incidentally if you load up Google Earth and look at present-day Clairview you can see the former roadbed for the H.E. Railway going through Riverside.

• Great work Andrew.

  I think there should be canals AND streetcars....and also free parking, unicorn valets, Jetsonian skywalks, Flintstonian Drive-in theatres and .....