Last November the Windsor Star ran an article about a new office building that was going to be built on the former Central Chrysler parking lot at Elliot and Goyeau.
There were large signs with renderings up on the property. The sign already claimed “OPENING AUGUST 2006”. Three months before the article ran in the Star.
This was the article that ran:
Offices slated for site in core
Dave Hall, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, November 18, 2006Redevelopment of two properties on Goyeau Street which once housed the former Central Chrysler Plymouth dealership will help revitalize a largely neglected portion of the city core, says the executive director of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association.
Located at the eastern edge of the DWBIA boundary, the projects “are positive developments and a sign that there is considerable interest in bringing new business downtown,” said Judith Veresuk.
“And the fact they are filling in and improving vacant properties is also a good sign,” she added.
A property at 785 Goyeau, which housed the dealership’s display lot on the west side of the street, is being developed as a $6.5-million two-storey, mixed-use commercial building by Maher Investment Group Inc.
Maher spokesman Mohsin Ahmad said he expects construction will start next month.
Ahmad said his company has already reached an agreement to bring a pharmacy to the development along with a number of doctors’ offices and hoped the rest of the building would be filled with other professional offices.
Ahmad said the building would be largely glass-fronted and a “nice addition to the neighbourhood which needs to see new development. We’ll also have more than enough parking which most downtown developments don’t have.”
A property directly across the street at 790 Goyeau, which housed the dealership’s sales offices, showroom and service bays, was recently sold under a Superior Court of Justice vesting order to 679711 Ontario Ltd and is being demolished.
The sale price, which included three other properties in LaSalle, was $1.8 million.
Mario Forte, who is listed as one of the numbered company’s officers, was unavailable for comment Friday on his plans for the property.
© The Windsor Star 2006
The lot is marked in red. That’s Goyeau to the right.
So Mohsin Ahmad, what happened? “Next month” according to the article would have been December 2006. As you can see the only thing that has changed is that the sign is knocked over. No sign of any construction. 🙂
I’m kind of glad it didn’t happen, the last thing that is needed in a urban core setting is another new building with a sea of parking out front.
I wonder if the pharmacy mentioned is the one that ended up on the old CAA property?
Doesn’t strike me as a Rexall based on the conceptual drawing and description. Sounds more like they were trying to do something like the Ziter building on Howard, with medical offices and a normal pharmacy.
He probably got wind of how difficult it is in dealing with the city and decided to go elsewhere. This is pure speculation on my part but from what I have heard from teh business community it isn’t that much of a stretch.
People just do not want to deal with these bozos and are waiting to see when teh get ousted.
It is up to us to make sure they are gone so that businesses will come back to the Gulag of WIndsor.
Is there an new operation or some facility that the city needs to have downtown that would suiit this location? Farmers market maybe? it seems a shame to leave a plot of asphalt remain vacant. Lots of parking to be had on the opposite corner…
.. and who approved oakland centre? is there an oak tree nearby? i dont even see one in the rendering..
Is there an new operation or some facility that the city needs to have downtown that would suiit this location? Farmers market maybe?- with a drive-thru of course. it seems a shame to leave a plot of asphalt remain vacant. Lots of parking to be had on the opposite corner…
.. and who approved oakland centre? is there an oak tree nearby? i dont even see one in the rendering..
Well, in the summer they could use this and other vacant lots for carnival activities. Think about it, instead of having everything planted along the riverfront, put the big rides in places like this, and then shut down vehicular traffic on Ouellette from Riverside drive to Wyandotte and put street vendors and midway type things on the street. All with the nice side effect of wicking people away from the riverfront, and into downtown streets I’m sure the increased foot traffic at ground zero would boost revenues downtown, versus parking in the garage and making a beeline for the riverfront.
It doesn’t surprise me. I knew this project was a pipe dream and a bust from the get go. Windsor has the highest office vacany rate in all of Canada because of the heavy union atmosphere that’s projected by this city.. Windsor-Essex Development Commission lists it at 30%. Who’s gonna lend them the money to build it?
I’m not at all shocked to hear that the old Central Chrysler property is still vacant. Windsor has too much vacant commercial space to begin with and any new development downtown would make the situation worse. To answer David’s comments on the city’s heavy union presence, I want to point out that labour unions in other cities have played a pivotal role in bringing in new investment and revitalizing old industries in many cities. Unfortunately, the Canadian Autoworkers brand of “me first” and “screw the other guys” unionism has been a destructive force in the city.
The sad thing is that 801 Ouellette is going to endure the same fate. That building will be demolished and no bank will lend them the money to build on it and it will be another pointless downtown parking lot like this one.
It would be better for the offices to front on the street, with parking in the rear, more like an L shaped building.
I like the Oakland name. Maybe Oakland County will annex Windsor – make em an offer!
L Brooks will straighten things out – just keep him away from his medication and booze.
If you are talking about the vacancy rate downtown, the reason that it is so high is because the city, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take Twin Oaks and the Deziel Dr properties and make them office centres instead of industrial properties that Windsor so consistently whines that they have little of.
If those areas weren’t built up with offices downtown would/could be alsmost full. But of course we see what we usually see with the Gulag of Windsor. Short-sighted, narrow minded decisions that benefit but a few people.
That’s it, I’m voting bacon man in the next election
You’re glad they didn’t build it with parking in front? You’d rather it stay a vacant parking lot? Because it is 2013 and it is still a vacant parking lot. The lot across the street, where the service centre and show room were is now the downtown Beer Store, with GASP! Parking! :O