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+--- Thread: The Inclusive on Courtland | 38, 34, 30 & 29 fl | Proposed (/showthread.php?tid=736)
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - Spokes - 12-10-2020
Here I was thinking this was dead
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - ac3r - 12-10-2020
While the buildings they've proposed are extremely ugly, at least it'll add some new housing to this part of the city, although I doubt any of this will be "affordable" considering how much of a working class neighbourhood this is.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - Rainrider22 - 12-16-2020
This project has been approved.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2020/12/16/courtland-towers-get-approval-will-be-among-the-tallest-in-waterloo-region.html?fbclid=IwAR2f9SSrpX09z5ZEoFXgugvXv1FlSx8qSQswrD3ZsYnkdG4BBNvNpPOs0tI
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - tomh009 - 12-16-2020
(12-10-2020, 12:26 PM)ac3r Wrote: While the buildings they've proposed are extremely ugly, at least it'll add some new housing to this part of the city, although I doubt any of this will be "affordable" considering how much of a working class neighbourhood this is.
Unclear on whether there will be any affordable units. At this time I believe these will be rental buildings but I could be wrong.
I personally don't see this as "extremely ugly" on the scale of some of the university area buildings, but, rather, as fairly generic suburban cluster towers, not unsimilar to Fallowfield or any number of towers in the 905.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - GarthDanlor - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 12:11 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: This project has been approved.Definitely not the prettiest project but this is good news for the area. That plot of land as it exists now is basically a wasteland. The article says that the buildings will range from 26-35 stories rather than the original 32-38 stories, as a comprise to complaints from nearby residents. I drive past this intersection to and from work (or I did until I started working from home in March) and traffic is often snarled already along that stretch. Hopefully a large chunk of the residents will take advantage of the LRT stop on their doorsteps, or things will get much worse.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2020/12/16/courtland-towers-get-approval-will-be-among-the-tallest-in-waterloo-region.html?fbclid=IwAR2f9SSrpX09z5ZEoFXgugvXv1FlSx8qSQswrD3ZsYnkdG4BBNvNpPOs0tI
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - dtkvictim - 12-16-2020
This development is perplexing to me. It's supposed to be a transit oriented development, but I can't imagine wanting to live here without a car. Boxed in on all sides with 0 pedestrian experience (and basically 0 potential improvements) sounds terrible.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - Acitta - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 01:09 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: This development is perplexing to me. It's supposed to be a transit oriented development, but I can't imagine wanting to live here without a car. Boxed in on all sides with 0 pedestrian experience (and basically 0 potential improvements) sounds terrible.Well, there will be parking for 1500 cars, so people who don't want to take the ION one stop to the mall have that option.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - GarthDanlor - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 01:42 PM)Acitta Wrote:Also, a 10 minute walk will get you to Food Basics and all the retail there and about 20 minutes walk will get you to Fairview Mall or No Frills for that matter. Not a scenic or pleasant walk but better walkable retail, restaurants and services than in most areas of the local cities.(12-16-2020, 01:09 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: This development is perplexing to me. It's supposed to be a transit oriented development, but I can't imagine wanting to live here without a car. Boxed in on all sides with 0 pedestrian experience (and basically 0 potential improvements) sounds terrible.Well, there will be parking for 1500 cars, so people who don't want to take the ION one stop to the mall have that option.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - tomh009 - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 01:09 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: This development is perplexing to me. It's supposed to be a transit oriented development, but I can't imagine wanting to live here without a car.
Owning a car doesn't mean that you have to drive it every day. At this point in time, most of the people who live and work downtown still own a car ...
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - danbrotherston - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 02:48 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(12-16-2020, 01:09 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: This development is perplexing to me. It's supposed to be a transit oriented development, but I can't imagine wanting to live here without a car.
Owning a car doesn't mean that you have to drive it every day. At this point in time, most of the people who live and work downtown still own a car ...
Honestly, I've never understood this. Owning a car if you don't need it (every day) is vastly expensive.
But you aren't wrong, most people do it.
That being said, the are is at least as walkable as other areas people have insisted are walkable...there is a plaza, parks, schools, within easy walking distance. And it is "transit oriented" and it's very close to ION with fast access to the mall and downtown.
But no, it is not a pleasant place to walk I don't think...especially in the winter with the wind.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - tomh009 - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 04:12 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(12-16-2020, 02:48 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Owning a car doesn't mean that you have to drive it every day. At this point in time, most of the people who live and work downtown still own a car ...
Honestly, I've never understood this. Owning a car if you don't need it (every day) is vastly expensive.
Indeed. it is. Owning a nice car (rather than a basic one) is also expensive. As is living in a nice place, riding a nice bike, wearing a nice watch or vacationing in a nice location. These are really, at least to some extent, luxury goods rather than essentials. But people are, in general, willing to spend money on such luxuries -- which specific ones, depends on the individual.
And I'm OK with that. A car parked in the garage is better than one being used for a daily commute.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - ijmorlan - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 04:12 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: But no, it is not a pleasant place to walk I don't think...especially in the winter with the wind.
If I built Virerra Village, Fairview Mall, and the LRT, then you could get from Virerra Village to Fairview Mall without going outside. But both areas would also be better for walking outside.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - dtkvictim - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 02:05 PM)GarthDanlor Wrote:(12-16-2020, 01:42 PM)Acitta Wrote: Well, there will be parking for 1500 cars, so people who don't want to take the ION one stop to the mall have that option.Also, a 10 minute walk will get you to Food Basics and all the retail there and about 20 minutes walk will get you to Fairview Mall or No Frills for that matter. Not a scenic or pleasant walk but better walkable retail, restaurants and services than in most areas of the local cities.
No offense, but I view this comment the same way I view realtor ads boasting a high walk score which fail to take into consideration the basic aspects of the environment. Pretty much all of the "walkable" (I really debate this too, beyond 10 minutes is pushing the definition, at least for me) shops are on Fairway, a notoriously terrible place to be a pedestrian. The way we build bridges in this city, like Block Line, is unpleasant too. At least this one has a "bike lane" to provide a small buffer for pedestrians.
I dunno, in my mind a transit oriented community must be an equally walkable neighbourhood to succeed, and this just doesn't do it for me. If it does for other people, then I hope they enjoy living there, it just confuses me.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - danbrotherston - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 05:02 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(12-16-2020, 04:12 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: But no, it is not a pleasant place to walk I don't think...especially in the winter with the wind.
If I built Virerra Village, Fairview Mall, and the LRT, then you could get from Virerra Village to Fairview Mall without going outside. But both areas would also be better for walking outside.
Heh, I think if we built the LRT and Fairview mall, they'd be drastrically different from their current form...
It's a wonderful dream.
RE: Virerra Village | 38, 34, 30 & 29fl | Proposed - ac3r - 12-16-2020
(12-16-2020, 04:12 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(12-16-2020, 02:48 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Owning a car doesn't mean that you have to drive it every day. At this point in time, most of the people who live and work downtown still own a car ...
Honestly, I've never understood this. Owning a car if you don't need it (every day) is vastly expensive.
But you aren't wrong, most people do it.
That being said, the are is at least as walkable as other areas people have insisted are walkable...there is a plaza, parks, schools, within easy walking distance. And it is "transit oriented" and it's very close to ION with fast access to the mall and downtown.
But no, it is not a pleasant place to walk I don't think...especially in the winter with the wind.
It is, but sometimes you need one which is why so many people own one.
If I need to go to the art store, that's close to a 2 hour bus ride across the city for me. By car, it's maybe 15 minutes. If I want to go downtown to the library, which is a closer trip, it's still a 30 minute bus+LRT trip. Transportation in this city is an absolute joke and it'll pretty much never get better. I was all excited that the LRT could get me downtown faster than the bus took and it would open up a faster way to travel across the entire city - but no, it takes me even longer now and it requires me taking a bus just to get to the LRT.
Anyway, apart from providing some new housing for a tiny class of people that can accord it, this is a garbage development that will do nothing but perpetuate the class/housing/economic/planning etc problems in this city. dtkvictim is right in saying it sucks. It's in the middle of a strip of ugly land between a big road and railroad tracks, which has zero impact on the street or surrounding area and is so far away from anything (trust me, 10 minutes to a grocery store is a lot when you have groceries) that is absolutely 100% car oriented. Tall buildings don't mean it's a good development (and the buildings are god damn ugly anyway). It's just suburban sprawl, albeit vertical.