This is one I’ve been meaning to post for a little while.
The other week, while heading out to the east side, I came upon this corner, and was shocked to find a pile of rubble.
The Top Valu car wash and gas station has been wiped from the landscape.
Any Eastsiders out there know what, if anything is going to pop up there?
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wha?????? Why would this come down? It’s a great place for a gas station so I have to think maybe just a more modern one and an automated car wash?
please don’t be a rexall please don’t be a rexall please don’t be a rexall
is that little blue house kiddie corner still standing?
Thanks Andrew!
What corner is that? The Top Valu is new to me! Anybody know what used to be there?
Sorry Clare,
It’s Lauzon and Little River Road (north east corner) about halfway between Wyandotte and Tecumseh.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1100+Lauzon+Road,+Windsor,+Ontario&sll=42.327332,-82.939568&sspn=0.201027,0.445976&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1100+Lauzon+Rd,+Windsor,+Essex+County,+Ontario+N8S+3M9&ll=42.327006,-82.939911&spn=0.006449,0.013937&t=h&z=17
I have lived in Riverside since the early 60’s before it merged with the city of Windsor, and the car wash/gas station was there at that time.
I have heard from neighbouring merchants that a Rexall drug store is to be built on the property where the little blue boarded up house now stands. I can’t see it going where the car wash was, as there would be no room for parking.
However, I have heard a rumour (just a rumour now!) that the plaza across the street (where Mac’s, Little Ceasars Pizza, etc.,is) will move to where the car wash was, as Family First Funeral Home has a Lauzon Road address. This could be true, because if you look at the side of the funeral home that faces the back wall of the plaza, there is an entrance with ornate pillars and awning.
On another subject, the former Edgewater Marina on Riverside Drive (next to Abar’s) is finally being demolished after decades of being vacant.
Wow – that was there for a very long time. Sad that this landmark is gone. When I lived on the Eastside – many, many years ago it was always busy.
i think that was the last entirely full serve station in town… now all the modern stations make you pay 3cents extra per litre to get full serve
The Sunys gas bar on Tecumseh Rd & Huron Church is gone, too…
Robert P, I couldn’t help but notice that as well. There is huge piles of dirt or sand there now at this point. From what I’ve been told, it’s going to be the new home to the Bank of Montreal, and Metro is going to be expanding to take up more space.
I mean Metro will be expanding internally, probably to fill in where the bank is now.
Well the ReXall was slated to go at the opposite corner, I knew the family that just sold it about two years ago, the house at the corner is vacant and still stands less any windows etc.
As for the gas bar many years back it was slated to become a Winks but that fell through, I heard a rumor that the tanks were leaking and were contaminated with water, it wasn’t worth replacing. I believe regulations require gas stations to sit idle for a period after which all soil is to be removed and replaced, which probably explains the hasty removal.
I believe they are just moving it around.. facing it the opposite way.
They are suppose to leave the foundation and the building footprint pretty much the same as it was and build office space from what I heard. The Rexall was thought to be built at Edgar and Lauzon I thought on the southwest corner.
I live in Riverside and I’ve heard the exact same rumours as Steve. If that happened, it would give the Families First Funeral Home a much greater presence on Lauzon Rd.
I was not sorry to see this gas station close. It was the cause of many traffic jams caused by poor design and discourteous drivers. It had no architectural significance. In the background on the left of the first photo you can see the former electrical transformer station, which was recently mentioned here.
I really don’t see why a Rexall would be a bad thing.
I went past that corner yesterday and all it is now is flat flat with big concete blocks around it kind of reminds me of ouellette ave and giles at the old Hortons
Aaron, yes that little blue house with the boarded up windows/doors is still there. We passed by it yesterday..Oct.14/11