So the track across Riverside Drive to Hiram Walker’s has bit the dust. The demolition of the waterfront silos are more than likely, and if they go, suddenly the long neglected Walker Power Building becomes a building with a waterfront view…
How many times have you looked at a building and imagined what you could do with it, if money was no object…
One of our regular readers Shane imagined exactly that scenario for the Walker Power Building.
Now keep in mind, there is no proposal on the table, and this isn’t any kind of official proposal… but if we had more people with Shane’s way of thinking, maybe our city wouldn’t have seen so many needless demolitions over the last half century.
Shane’s imagined plan calls for ground floor retail, with 2nd and 3rd floor residential lofts and offices, while the 4th floor becomes boutique hotel space.
A new road would be created on the South side of the building from Devonshire to Chilver. This would create street frontage to the retail on the South façade of the building.
Thanks for sharing these pictures Shane, we need more people with vision like this in our city. Hopefully the Walker Power Building sees new life if the silo’s bite the dust.
Shane also incorporated a street car stop into his plan, in case such a system should ever be implemented in the city again. 😉
Have a good weekend everyone! See you back here Monday.
outstanding. Glad to know someone in the city is thinking about using the heritage instead of destroying it and making more empty parking lots.
This is amazing Shane. It would be awesome if this building got repurposed like this, or even rehab’ed at all.
I think it’s wonderful! For mid-rise buildings, mixed use is the way to go.
Two questions: What’s on the roof? Where do residents park?
Brilliant.
Great work…If only money were no object. Good to see people are thinking like this though.
Good work! It could have even been re-purposed to be the new train station instead of building a building that ignores the heritage of the location. Then maybe you could actually locate the train station if you were a visitor to this city.
I love the idea except for ground floor retail. Believe it or not Wnidsor is saturated with retail space already. Sadly Windsorites love their big box stores more than they do locally owned businesses.
The reason (so it has been said) this building will eventually come down is that the soil around and beneath it is contaminated.
The silo’s I believe are stil being used. They are filled by trucks instead of trains now.
This is a cool concept, It look like something you may see in Toronto or New York. The suspended balconies are quite modernistic. I wonder if this was drawn with autocad revit. It would be nice to see a building like this in windsor
I’m ready to move in.
How about combining both Shane’s idea and Aaron’s. How cool would this building be as a combination train station / office building / commercial building. Think of it as a mini Union station in Toronto.Tracks that run to platforms at the south of the building which enter into a main floor concourse leading out onto Riverside Drive.Upper floors rented as office space,and a collection of eateries and lounges catering to rail travelers and Walkerville tourists.10 minute taxi ride to the Casino and walking distance to the ever growing Walkerville scene ,all enhanced by a beautiful view of the river.Done right the station itself would be a destination.
Think about it and then go take a peek at the turd of a ” staion “being crammed in behind a warehouse… Nice work Shane. Great idea Aaron.
dave – those silos aren’t being used any longer and they’ve been making moves to knock them down for a while. sadly it is only a matter of time before walker’s is out of windsor all together – give it 10 – 20 years and they’ll be out of there.
Nicely done. You should post a picture of what the building actually looks like.
Wow! The concept is gorgeous: talk about “location-location-location” and modern beauty and transportation. Imagine a light rail line along the river (horrors! some say) to Ouellette, etc.
Check out this film about Windsor during the first “Freedom Festival” — 1951.
http://www.nfb.ca/film/eye_witness_33
And this goes along with Shane’s brilliant concept (from the St. Thomas, Ont., Times Journal):
Ian’s City Scope Blog [comment-reply@wordpress.com]
The festival in the film is about the Emancipation Day, started by Dr. Roy Perry to celebrate the Emanacipation Act of 1837, passed by the British Parliment. (1937 is the date that comes to mind it could be a date on either side) The celebration was held Civic Holiday weekend on the river front this year. This and the Firemans Feild Day where originaly held at Jackson Park. Some time in the sixties the city moved them to Mic Mac Park, The Firemans Feild Day ended soon after, the Emancipation celebration later moved to Amherstburg.The Supremes won the talent contest in Windsor and went up from that.
The first International Festival was in 1959, and coinsided with the visit of Queen Elisabeth and Prince Philip, the Brittania was moored at the foot of Ouellet Av.
The move to Mic Mac park followed the 1967 Detroit riots. They were denied permits to continue at Jackson park. Racism killed that amazing festival, which is slowly being revived.
Great work Shane, all we need now is someone with similar vision and deep pockets. I really like the Mies van der Rohe-ish Modernist look to your design! That would be a fantastic addition to that area of Windsor that could encourage further development.
Great Idea Shane it would be a wonderful way to reuse the old heritage building if eddie francis had any brains he would stay home instead of flying all over europe trying to lock down foreign investors maybe he should start talking to local developers about doing something like thishe’s got something up his sleave that he’s not talking much about some big surprise for windsor great photos Shane well done!!
I say move the train station to where Woolco was this is now the centre of the city anyways. The tracks from the existing station (turd) could be torn out and a new much needed east-west roadway could be put where the tracks are now. As for this being converted to retail space, like a fellow lister said there is a lot of vacant retail already ,just drive down Ottawa. Who would you target as customers ? the occupants ? Thats not enough to be viable. great idea …. wrong location…. My 2 cents…. Still a nice concept though ???
Even it was fesable to move the station the tracks would still be needed by CN their two freight trains each day come to Windsor and go behind Jefferson to get to their yard.
Via would need the Y a Jefferson. and track west of that for turning. So all you would gain is tracks up from Walker Rd. to Pillette Rd. And that would probably in fifty or sixty years, given how fast the temporary station lasted.
It is a great idea to have the station in the east end and move the mini bus station with it,that way people could get to other parts of the city with paying cab fare.
I like the transit that Shane put into his concept. How about a streetcar/LRT from the university via downtown to Tecumseh…That would really increase the usefulness of the train station and help cure the parking lot centred world that is Windsor.
I think the decision makers have already planned for a new VIA station in the Crawford/Tecumseh area – not a fan of that. I thought Caron/University would have made a great VIA location.
I think the linkage to Detroit is a big factor. I think future LRT should also be a factor too, however. Windsor is just too darn spread and sprawled out. Tough to get density when everything is so far apart.
Via just built a new station next to the old one in Walkerville,so I do not think they are
planning another station for a long time. Linking Via to Detroit would probably be through Sarnia to Durand Mi. then south to Detroit new center area where Amtack is or strait to Chicago from Durand, Amtrack already runs from Toronto to Chicago on this line. It is unlikely we will ever see high speed rail to Windsor.
HighER speed rail (110 MPH) is imminent (really!)on the Amtrak/CSX line Chicago to Jackson and Dearborn/Detroit/Pontiac. VIA station next to the rail tunnel is the wisest in deference to the future. Fausto’s idea of Caron/University or anywhere around Tecumseh/Crawford, College/Crawford is, I believe, excellent.
@Shane, Wow, your design is really impressive. I would urge you to consider showing your drawings to LOCAL developers and see what they think about it. Definitely do not show them to city council. keep up the good work!
Carl. Thank you. I didn’t realize they were finished with the silos. I also agree they will be gone within 10-20 years. The only thing keeping it going is the bottling of other brands.
Gary, you really want local developers to do this type of work? The vast majority of local developers would cheapen it and run away. Their track record in this city is less than sub-par. I wouldn’t trust them to hold a bag of rotten apples much less have the foresight to redevelop a building like this.
Ken,
I recall the location already would be the city public works dept which would simply relocate to make way for a new station. It’s unfortunate that they couldn’t get it closer to the core. Keeping on the tunnel line means Cameron, and I would like to think that the old alicia mason school on University could be the site. A nice Atrium/platform would be below grade by how much i don’t know.. too much? Then the LRT Transit hub could be the old SWA barns right next door. Multi-modal right at the U of W and the Core at the same time…Why hasn’t anybody called me about this?
Dave and Carl: I don’t know why you think Walkers will be gone in 10-20 years. The amount of money and innovation invested into the site recently will keep it going for many more years to come. As far as only bottling “other” brands, perhaps you guys should read up on how much distillation still goes on at the site. You’d be surprised at the number of products that are made.
nice work Shane!!
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=10682
Shane… in addition to this design… I (and no doubt, others) would like to see inclusion of simple and affordable artists spaces for rent, ($300./mth, for example) with all utilities included, and 24/7 accessibility – adding in the creative element to this establishment. This building is a perfect location for this type of usage. The field just south of the building is perfect for a park to include community fairs and summer festivals. Thanks for posting Andrew.
Scott, there are places downtown that rent for that. I know of a few that have sequestered areas in buildings for that price.
Fausto, the Via rail station is already done. No use in wanting what isn’t going to happen. It took them 50+ years to replace the piece of crap they had in Walkerville. I don’t think a new station is coming any time soon.
I know how much goes on in that plant. I go there for work many times. Just because they invest in machinery doens’t mean they can’t pull it and move it elsewhere.
Thanks for all the positive feedback folks!
Scotty, you read my mind! The “Lofts” portion of the development would be smaller units perhaps even a live/work scenario. Defiantly geared toward artists, young professionals, etc. The vacant lot to the South makes a perfect public space, this is exactly why a created a new road along the South Facade. The idea would be to create a new square in the Walkerville area.
Dave. I hear you loud and clear.. Windsor does have an abundance of retail, however this part of Walkerville is at capacity. I strongly believe additional retail would not only be successful in the area, but add to the vibrancy of an already successful mixed use area. I soil contamination won’t be the nail in the coffin for this building, there are many remediation and encapsulation methods used on heritage buildings all over the world. The city even offers grants for clean up of contaminated sites.
cdm, I used Google Sketchup in combination with Photoshop to create these images.
Here is a link to the building in its current state: http://internationalmetropolis.com/2010/10/13/walker-power-building/
Aaron.. You hit the nail on the head with the train station idea.. too bad we have a brand new quonset hut behind hiram walker’s… A light rail station would be a perfect fit however.
Thanks again everyone.
a tremendous idea Shane.