I noticed the other day that the death fences had sprung up around the old C.A.A. building on Ouellette Ave @ Gilles. It was in the basement of this building that I was taught to drive a car by the man who ironically is now my city councilor.
The building sports the Petretta Construction signs, the same ones that the old Champion Sparkplug factory had out before the building crushers moved in.
A quick check around the side shows two big dumpsters and some kind of abatement activity going on inside. Won’t be long I suppose until there is another hole in our urban landscape.
I wonder how old that building really is. Last time I took a good look, there were sections on the side without the facade that might indicate the building is alot older than it appears.
I certainly wouldn’t suggest that replacing derelict old buildings in our City core would create “another hole in our urban landscape”. The City of Windsor has been very diligent in ensuring that all new projects meet the strict guidleines developed in conjuction with their Urban Design team. As a matter of fact, we have spent more time developing the site plan for this unique site than we have on the last 10 projects combined. Please have faith that your concerns are echoed at City Hall and nobody is getting by with a free pass. This all costs us additional dollars, but in the end, we have a project that we can all be proud of.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, are you at liberty to discuss what the plans are for the site? Demolliton then what?
**************
As a follow up from Davide:
No problem Andrew. You will soon see a brand new “urban friendly” building coming
out of the ground. It will be a single user, national retail tenant. They plan to
be open for business in the 4th quarter of this year.
—————————————
Davide Petretta, P. Eng.
Petretta Construction Inc.
http://www.petcon.net
info@petcon.net
What does “urban friendly” mean? Why isn’t it just an urban building?
(not meant to be a flame, just wondering about the strange wording).
Anything that meetings the sidewalk all around and is not dedicated to parking lot, would be welcome.
I would guess that it means that the parking lot won’t be the prominent feature 🙂
Seeing as this is close-ish to my house, I’m hoping the “national retail tenant” is someone useful.
The new call centre? Although a bit far from “downtown” as described in Henderson’s column the other day
Nope joe, the call centre is set for 500 Ouellette. The Mady building at Ouelltte and Maiden Lane.
Its going to be a Drug store.
Yeh the old Champion Sparkplug Factory that Petretta redid is now a Shoppers Home Health Care. Wouldn’t surprise me to see a Shoppers there, — or even a Rexall, which is gaining popularity in the region. I’m just wondering what the plans are for the now-closed Tim Hortons at that same intersection. A Tim’s is going up in the parking lot of Classic Bingo V on Wyandotte and Crawford, which is really only a short drive from Giles and Ouelette anyway, but hey.. maybe the closed Tim Hortons will move across the street to the old CAA location?
i never liked the old CAA building but I won’t be happy to see it go. Maybe there’s a really nice building under all that ugly stucco and aluminum but we won’t know now. I think a single-use structure would be a mistake for that site. There’s far too many single-use buildings in the city. We need more multi-use, higher-density buildings like Toronto. I would prefer to have the building renovated into lofts like the old Hiram Walker warehouse with commercial on the first floor.
westerntragedy……….Actually the Tim’s did want to move accross the street to the CAA property…But City Council turned them down, becasue a drive thru is not aloud on a theme street…
It is said to be a rexall..there is also one going up on Huron Church.
Interesting… Will they keep late/24 hour service to try and compete with the Shoppers I wonder?
Nice thing about Rexall, they take Air Miles… 🙂
yes airmiles, haha! I actually had just discovered that the other day reading their ad. The Rexall on Erie St never struck me as much of a chain store, but they are getting bigger lately. about time Shoppers gets some competition again. competition = lower prices for us lowly consumers 😉
No foolin’!
Is the Tim Hortons going to be in the parking lot of the bingo ? The lot don’t appear to be big enough for a coffee shop and drive-thru plus parking for both businesses. At the corner of Elliott & Crawford all the way to the railroad tracks is a piece of empty land,why not build it there ?
The closed up donut shop on the “theme” street is much better. No doubt at all that Tim’s would’ve worked with the city to come up with a pleasing design–but the city stuck to it’s hardline so the Tim’s across the street simply closed.
What is Ouelette’s “theme” anyway?…and how will a PharmaPlus fit in when a restaurant wouldn’t?
I AGREE WITH WESTERNTRAGEDY ANY COMPETITION WITH SHOPPERS IS A GREAT THING . ANYONE NOTICE HOW THEY HAVE NICKLED & DIMED THEIR WAY TO THE TOP AFTER BUYING THEIR RIVALS (BIG V ) SLOWING RAISING THEIR PRICES TO THE POINT I RARELY SHOP THERE EXECEPT FOR STAMPS ???
This building was a convenience store in the bottom part. Lived on Victoria growing up in the 1960s/70s and went there often for errands. It was a brick building and the store had quite nice hard wood floors. Father and son ran the store. Will miss it and those days too.