12-14-2014, 09:32 PM
Doug Craig seems to at least be open to the idea. He said that light rail will only be of use to Cambridge "when Hespeler Road is lined with skyscrapers". It's certainly the best place to go wild with intensification; will anything along the road be missed?
The owners of Cambridge Centre are probably in the best position to kick-start redevelopment; build parking structures behind The Bay and Target, convert the laneway in front to a proper road, and start building mixed use on the parking lots out front. It has the added benefit of making the distance between the future ION stop and the mall feel smaller.
The next best place to redevelop is the east side between Dunbar and Can-Amera; there are already a number of vacancies, and I'm sure the flea market tenants can find new homes.
The west side of Hespeler Road has something the east side cannot offer: it backs onto a creek. Though this is currently a drawback to development because it makes that entire side a floodplain, it is also a potential linear park between Pinebush and Dumfries Park. That will be a fantastic selling point when marketing condos and apartments.
The owners of Cambridge Centre are probably in the best position to kick-start redevelopment; build parking structures behind The Bay and Target, convert the laneway in front to a proper road, and start building mixed use on the parking lots out front. It has the added benefit of making the distance between the future ION stop and the mall feel smaller.
The next best place to redevelop is the east side between Dunbar and Can-Amera; there are already a number of vacancies, and I'm sure the flea market tenants can find new homes.
The west side of Hespeler Road has something the east side cannot offer: it backs onto a creek. Though this is currently a drawback to development because it makes that entire side a floodplain, it is also a potential linear park between Pinebush and Dumfries Park. That will be a fantastic selling point when marketing condos and apartments.