Brampton City Hall/Library Project (Multi-site, Dominus/CoB)

[TOareaFan]

City Hall and Gage Park

These were not part of the original poster's tour but they are integral parts of what is a long process of revitalization of a small downtown.

City Hall was/is important because it brought people to work downtown Brampton......this was a controversial decision because many wanted the "old" (70's vintage) Bramalea Civic Centre rehabbed and expanded to become the new City Hall.

On its own, City Hall has not proven to be a big catalyst to revitalization....in fact it might actually point out how important all 4 aspects I mentioned earlier are together. At 5 o'clock (for the most part) the workers here pile out of downtown to head back to their sub-division housing. So, after work, there remains little life downtown.

Across the street from City Hall is Gage Park. This gives people something to do and, as home to the best outdoor skating in the GTA, it brings people from outside the downtown. (it also answers the earlier question about the city hall, the park and the highway....these were all taken from the corner of Wellington and Main - "highway 10")......the last one shows the view looking north from outside of City Hall.

 

[TOareaFan]

On the Way to the GO Station.

After leaving the Renaissance, I started heading up George Street to update the earlier pictures of the GO Train Station work.

It struck me that this picture, looking north towards George & Nelson Streets was an interesting look into the past. Contained in this picture are 3 significant buildings.

The dark brown office building to the left is one of the older office buildings in downtown.....it is a very dour building that perenially has had vacancy issues....to the right side of the building is the building built in the 80's that is also prone to vacancy. These buildings (IMO) are one of the reasons that no significant office projects have been proposed or built in the area....there is no evidence that tenants can be attracted. Given their proximity to the GO Station (the building to the right actually houses the bus terminal) two-way all day service actually makes these attractive locations for suburban office use.....lower cost than Mississauga/Toronto but with good access dynamics for workers.

The building in the middle of the pic was planned as a condo building in the late '80s by a developer who I believe is no longer with us. I think their name was Anaheim and they were western Canadian based. They built some towns and 3 storey walk-ups in the Hurontario/Bristol area of Mississauga and this hi-rise in downtown brampton. It did not sell well and before the building was finished it had been converted to a subsidized housing project. This building likely left a bad taste in the mouths of developers and might explain why it has taken so long for the condo craze to reach Brampton.

Anyway, nothing new in this pic just thought it was an interesting historical perspective.