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I agree with the people who say the aud should stay. I'd like them to redevelop the current lot but location wise it's actually fantastic. It's well within reach of the downtown and as some have pointed out soon basically will be, but it also has direct highway access making getting in and out so much easier. Traffic would be really difficult with the stadium built right downtown for anyone not on an LRT line.
The current location is easy enough to access for people taking public transit but also relatively convenient for those who have to drive or arent directly on transit lines.
(06-25-2021, 01:47 PM)Bjays93 Wrote: I agree with the people who say the aud should stay. I'd like them to redevelop the current lot but location wise it's actually fantastic. It's well within reach of the downtown and as some have pointed out soon basically will be, but it also has direct highway access making getting in and out so much easier. Traffic would be really difficult with the stadium built right downtown for anyone not on an LRT line.
The current location is easy enough to access for people taking public transit but also relatively convenient for those who have to drive or arent directly on transit lines.
That's just about everyone in the region. ... I'll stop before I get more downvotes. That said, I guess LRT planners didn't see any merit in moving the LRT closer to The Aud. It probably would have add 1.5 km's of line, plus purchasing homes, not to mentioned added travel time, especially frustrating when nothing happening at The Aud (like the past 16 months).
The Aud is in a odd position, because it's not sub-urban, but not quite downtown. Though it is close enough to parts of DTK that you could exploit that fact. Eastwood Square would make a great spot for people to chill after an event. As would a couple blocks down Borden. Somehow, that needs to be more advertised, and we'd also need better offerings. King and Ottawa is almost a entrance to DTK, and it's close to The Aud.
I think one major problem we have: The Aud has an abundance of parking. Unlike certain area's of Toronto, people here are simply not used to walking 15-20 minutes before/after the event to get to transit or their car. Actually, people in this region will break into a sweat if they're parked by the Dog Park at The Aud.
(06-26-2021, 12:24 AM)jeffster Wrote: Unlike certain area's of Toronto, people here are simply not used to walking 15-20 minutes before/after the event to get to transit or their car. Actually, people in this region will break into a sweat if they're parked by the Dog Park at The Aud.
My spouse loves walking in Wellington. She hates walking in Waterloo. Why is that? There's a lot of parts of Waterloo that aren't nice to walk through, or that have nothing interesting to look at. Let's take King St around GRH for instance. It's not the best for walking. (To be fair, there are many parts of Toronto and Montreal that also aren't great to walk 15 minutes in either).
(06-25-2021, 01:47 PM)Bjays93 Wrote: I agree with the people who say the aud should stay. I'd like them to redevelop the current lot but location wise it's actually fantastic. It's well within reach of the downtown and as some have pointed out soon basically will be, but it also has direct highway access making getting in and out so much easier. Traffic would be really difficult with the stadium built right downtown for anyone not on an LRT line.
The current location is easy enough to access for people taking public transit but also relatively convenient for those who have to drive or arent directly on transit lines.
That's just about everyone in the region. ... I'll stop before I get more downvotes. That said, I guess LRT planners didn't see any merit in moving the LRT closer to The Aud. It probably would have add 1.5 km's of line, plus purchasing homes, not to mentioned added travel time, especially frustrating when nothing happening at The Aud (like the past 16 months).
The Aud is in a odd position, because it's not sub-urban, but not quite downtown. Though it is close enough to parts of DTK that you could exploit that fact. Eastwood Square would make a great spot for people to chill after an event. As would a couple blocks down Borden. Somehow, that needs to be more advertised, and we'd also need better offerings. King and Ottawa is almost a entrance to DTK, and it's close to The Aud.
I think one major problem we have: The Aud has an abundance of parking. Unlike certain area's of Toronto, people here are simply not used to walking 15-20 minutes before/after the event to get to transit or their car. Actually, people in this region will break into a sweat if they're parked by the Dog Park at The Aud.
I always park 5 to 10 mins away from the aud. When it comes time to leave its actually faster.
This has topped out in the last two months -- is Vive getting faster at this? Or do this project and Woodside just have simpler construction techniques than Market Flats and Ophelia?
There is no spectacular architecture here, but this is the kind of missing-middle construction that we clamour for. The colours are OK, and I quite like the variation in height and distance from the street.
(07-30-2022, 09:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: This has topped out in the last two months -- is Vive getting faster at this? Or do this project and Woodside just have simpler construction techniques than Market Flats and Ophelia?
This one was built with precast unlike Market Flats (Covid delays) and Ophelia (cast in place). So it went up alot quicker alot like The Scott.
I like it. It uses step backs and balcony columns to create some depth to it. It is kind of hard to tell in the photo, but it also uses the same yellow "brick" precast as "The Scott". This project and the one behind the Tim Horton's at Lancaster and Bridgeport show that Precast concrete paneled building can designed nicely. I admit that they are both basically just white and grey, but I think they are perfectly good infill project. Would love to see more of these types of developments scattered around the Downtown neighborhoods.
(07-30-2022, 09:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: This has topped out in the last two months -- is Vive getting faster at this? Or do this project and Woodside just have simpler construction techniques than Market Flats and Ophelia?
There is no spectacular architecture here, but this is the kind of missing-middle construction that we clamour for. The colours are OK, and I quite like the variation in height and distance from the street.
I wouldn't give Vive that much credit. Their thesis is basically that because of the demand for housing (& low vacancy rates), they can build as cheap as possible and still charge comparable rents to nicer buildings. This approach may catch-up to them eventually, but now the supply constraint means they will get away with it.
I don’t know what the units are like, or how much rent they will charge, all I’m saying is that this is the right kind of density and that the design doesn’t look bad.
(06-24-2021, 04:34 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Maybe we could work on developing the Aud District instead? Rebuild the Aud on the existing property, with structured parking. Include mixed-use development. Develop the armoury. Encourage developments like this one. Enhance transit connectivity, and provide extra transit connections on game/event nights.
This is exactly what I feel should be done with the property. There's SO much potential space here that's being wasted as parking lots. Put a parking garage in the Ottawa/highway corner (currently occupied by a baseball diamond), as you can expect lots of cars to come off the highway. Get rid of most of the roads leading through the Aug land and redevelop to add basketball and tennis courts, parkspace, a bigger skatepark, etc. Add some underground parking coming off Stirling so that not all parking is getting shunted to Ottawa/East, and then put the baseball diamond on top. And most critically, add a strip of restaurants along Eugene Way, right next to the Aud and right off of Ottawa, so that people have a place to eat before/after visiting the Aud. This would also help minimize the rate of traffic coming into the property right before a game, because some people will arrive an hour earlier in order to eat and relax.
Please see this extremely terrible overlay I have put on a Google Maps image, to better illustrate my ideas haha
