I was downtown Friday, and Noticed work was still progressing on the new TD Bank… Not sure if the city strike delayed work, pending inspections, etc… but it seems to be slow going.
When we last visited the site in June, this is what it looked like:
In two months, it doesn’t look that much farther along… but I’m no expert on new construction…
The Norwich block TD Bank facade would have been a perfect fit. It has been in storage for so long I wonder if it really still exists or if parts of it have gone missing. If it does exist I doubt it will ever be used to recreate the original look anywhere.
I don’t think this will be the end of downtown demolitions. Hurst managed to get rid of the Norwich block…. I wonder what will be lost to create the canal project. The enticement of long term visions can result is failed fantasies.
I’d say this is slow for Windsor. Usually we can get buildings up in no time. Would there be a lack of skilled trades right now since many have taken contracts in other cities? Most of the electricians I know are working in other parts of the province (or even the country) to keep their families fed. The new TD in Belle River started after this and is almost done…definitely on a different scale but you would think that workers would change with that scale too.
Compared to the speed of the crew that put up the Burger King a block from there, I think it’s very slow.
There’s been a TD going up in Belle River this summer. Looks like they are going to be opening soon. Just now, 7 pm, there was still a crew working on the outside finish. And there’s a sign saying they are hiring.
Banks are not Burger Kings. It takes time to erect a cathedral. As for the bits and pieces of the Norwich Block, those and any other artifacts of Windsor’s lost architecture could be collected, perhaps at Jackson park near the sunken garden (is that still there?) and arranged in a setting of overgrown splendor. Nature running wild over the ruins, reclaiming the works of man. Tendrils of ivy creeping over the stones. Saplings taking root in the cracks. You get the idea. Better that they’re out in the open where people can see them rather than hidden away in some musty warehouse waiting for an ill advised or poorly conceived “integration” into a contemporary design. A waterfall would be nice, but you need some elevation for that. How about using the material excavated from the canal project to create an artificial mountain (hill?) from whose summit this cataract could spring? But I thought the canal was a joke. Really. Isn’t it?
You comparing that TD bank turd to a cathedral. AH HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Saw you ride by Milk again today after your CJAM show. Alan Halberstadt talked on City Council tonight about looking in to why those garbage bins were located on the site of the old BofM at Ottawa and Walker. He wanted some answers and they said they will look into it.
What a piece of crap! Why didn’t the city use it’s influence to get the old TD bank on Riverside incorporated into the new one. Cities all across the country incorporate old and new but in Windsor we’re still stuck in the 20th century.
Two weeks ago, I was eating with a buddy of mine at McD’s at Goyeau and Wyandotte. Last week, they demo’d the place we ate at to build a bigger McD’s. Today, I drove by and the STC group has the walls and roof and part of the brickwork and glass up, where the three storey TD is at in it’s phase. We have a standing bet where he thinks the McD’s will be done and open for business within 10 days. A week ago, Extreme Build built a $324,000 mansion in Kingsville for Charity in three days. Yet, Petratta has been plugging away at this site for over a year with a $20m budget. They have some glass windows up now, but it’s time to crack the whip.
Yeah, I saw the McDonald’s too…
Excuse the crappy cell phone picture, but here’s how it looked the other day…
I don’t know about 10 days, but I bet it will be open inside of 30…