So the East Windsor Co-generation plant, that is being built beside the Albert Kahn designed Ford Power House is progressing. In the meanwhile, they have been buying up the houses along Cadillac Street, and knocking them down.
This multi-colored cinderblock duplex was at the south end of Cadillac.
This great looking craftsman styled house fell as well. IMO the nicest old house on the block.
The house north of the Craftsman.
Two very similar houses just south of Riverside.
This house, is on the corner of Riverside and Cadillac. The property owner is involved in quite the battle to get her property sold. She has a blog documenting the process here: http://www.homesellersbeware.blogspot.com/. Check it out, it make for an interesting read.
Looking north up Cadillac toward Riverside.
This shot is from the summer of 2007. As you can see the block was quite dense with many houses. All of them to be wiped out in less than a year.
There is truly something rotten to the core with a city that allows this kind of old solid housing stock to be wiped out, yet it gleefully throws up crappy ass subdivisions in every empty field.
Somethings gotta give soon… Otherwise we’re all in serious trouble.
Oh – it’s going to give soon, alright. I’m just wondering what the hell people are thinking by tearing apart the fabric of the core while gas prices climbed over $1.32 a litre the past couple of days. I’m not a brilliant guy (I know you think I am, Andrew – but I’m not!) but I can put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4. Much like we need to preserve our rail infrastructure for the days when we smarten up and reinvest in a more sustainable method of moving our large derriers around, we’re going to have to do the same with our urban neighbourhoods in respect to this insane habitation migration out to the farm fields.
I wonder if anything was salvaged from some of those homes? Interior trim, doors, windows…I bet it was just all thrown in a dumpster and chucked into the landfill. That is another sad aspect of this type of thinking.
I think the real question is, why would anyone want to live on a street behind Drouillard Road? Maybe, the one facing Riverside Dr. with a view of the river. But, aside from that, not really. How can people complain if they can’t imagine themselves living in Ford City themselves? I’ve seen renovated 3 bedroom apts in duplexes living for $400 that can’t move–landlords and realtors even try to list Ford City as Walkerville and super close to Walkerville High School with no takers. The houses go for nothing because the area has had such a bad rep. as the worst place in Windsor to live in: less to do with sprawl, and more to do with high crime, biker gangs, drugs and the negative subculture of the people living there.
You want to live in Ford City. Here’s a listing on Albert St., a few streets from Cadillac. Nice 30×110 lot, detached garage, 1 and a half storey Only $29,900. http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3dResidential%26ret%3d300%26sts%3d0-0%26beds%3d0-0%26baths%3d0-0%26ci%3dwindsor%26pro%3d2%26st%3dalbert%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d0-0-4%26trt%3d2%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26o%3dA&Mode=0&PropertyID=7041954
And, the lady on Cadillac did a title search to find someone got $144,000 for a house in Ford City. They made a killing.
I still have the highest of hopes for Drouillard Road. No other area of the city has such promise as a walkable, pedestrian-scaled mixed-use neighbourhood. Soho in New York was their version of Drouillard Road until the artists moved in and made it “hip”. They soon gentrified their way out, making it so fasionable and expensive they couldn’t live in the neighbourhood that they revitalized.
The question is, then: how do we do that for Drouillard? The city has invested in some infrastructure (lights, benches, streetscaping) which didn’t work. As noted, rents and property values couldn’t be any more affordable. The reputation is no way worse than those of Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, etc. which have since seen gentrification. So what is the city doing wrong with Drouillard Road?
Whatever it is, they are doing it across the entire core. Why should we believe that they would be able to do Drouillard any differently, I guess.
Chris, the reason those areas of NY were gentrified was because there was no place else where people could buy so cheaply. We don’t have that issue in Windsor at the current time. Take a look around at the low costs of housing here and what sprawl has done to the interior of the city, downtown, Walkerville, Riverside…they have all lost population density and when that happens the price of houses goes down and along come the riff-raff.
Until the mentality changes (andit will with ever increasing gas & food prices) people will have no choice but to move closer to work or the city.
Chris, I agree drouillard is primed for a placemaking opportunity…and the city can do more
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1210926798191250.xml&coll=2
In detroit I recall reading an article last yr where an old apartment was rehabed ( near the Zorba i think) and let out to artists at a fraction of the going rental rates, additonal gallery spaces and work spaces were available at ground and used for weekend visits by the public to view purchase artworks.
What is the specific reason for all the homes being bought and then demolished? What is their plan for the vacant lands? Sorry if its a dumb question….have not been in the loop on this issue.
ESD
The continual destruction of Windsor’s old housing is sickening. Although work and family has forced me to make my home in Toronto, I still care very deeply about the city (and regularly read this site), having been born, raised and educated in Windsor. The neighbourhood I grew up in on Indian Road doesn’t even exist anymore and is now just a collection of empty lots. I cannot understand how the municipal government and the TWO Provincial Cabinet members can just sit on their hands and watch as the city slowly gets ripped down piece by piece.
ESD – The plan is to build an earthen berm along the east side of Cadillac against the power plant property.
About 10 years ago I was looking pretty seriously at buying one of those homes. All the interior was still intact w/ hardwood and real wood baseboards and door jambs. There was a screened-in balcony on the second floor with a view of Belle Isle. At the time there were a lot of concerns about the foundations and vibrations from the existing power house. That block of Cadillac was nice, quiet, had a park and easy access to Riverside Drive. It was quite an idillic street.
I have a big smile on my face Chris..Why? Back in the seventies when I was attempting to establish myself as a professional visual artists in this city, while I worked on the line at Ford, I to looked at the boarded up stores, with homes attached to them on Drouillard as studio/gallery/living space. And like you thought that the street had potential as a new Soho,
Just wondering where is the Interim Control bylaw etc. to protect this neighbourhood and heritage evaluation? Just wondering!