From the Barrie Examiner
Rail land plans on new tracks
City council to review revised proposals to redevelop Allandale station property
Posted By BOB BRUTON
Posted 1 day ago
The ante had been upped on redeveloping Barrie's Allandale station lands.
Both the YMCA/Correct Group and Forecast/Mark Porter have submitted new proposals to the city, which will be considered by its corporate services committee on Jan. 20.
City council will have the final say on which redevelopment plan is approved for the nine acres of land at Lakeshore Drive and Tiffin Street.
Both proposals incorporate plans for a children's museum there.
William Moore of Solutions Ink, speaking for the YMCA/Correct proposal, said there is clear support for a public/cultural use vision for the station buildings.
"The children's museum is at an early stage of their growth, so the idea was -- let's help them, let's give them a planning leg up," he said.
"They (YMCA/Correct) also committed to programming the station buildings for public use for three to five years, to see if that site was viable for the museum or perhaps another organization that Barrie's culture department recommended."
Moore, who provided the YMCA/ Correct plans to theExaminer, says if this site doesn't work for the children's museum then it could continue as public use.
Lorne Wolinsky of Forecast Inc. also provided its new plan to theExaminer, and said it does include a new children's museum -- but not in the train station buildings.
"Those buildings are very vulnerable," he said. "We don't believe they will last another winter."
Wolinsky said that with the children's museum years away, it's better to have a new location on the site. He also doesn't believe the Allandale station buildings can be expanded, because of their Ontario Heritage designation.
"Right now, it's just an idea. There's no money and no plan," he said of the children's museum. "We do think it's a good fit, so space will be reserved."
The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka has partnered with the Correct Group of Companies, a real estate development and management group owned and operated by the Furbacher family. They have a $50-million plan for the old railway property that includes 100 condo/hotel units and 150,000 square feet of commercial/retail mixed use.
"There was a commitment to a walking village-like community...to reduce surface parking to create more people space," Moore said.
This is in addition to a new YMCA facility and redeveloping the former Allandale station building for public use, including a children's museum.
"They (Correct) said that their interestwasbecauseof theY'spresence there-- that the Y would deliver the kind of activity (1,700 visitors per day) that would guarantee a successful mixed-use development on the station lands," Moore said.
The proposed 'Y by the Bay' would provide broad public and social programs from child care to recreation, from fitness to youth-at-risk and supporting new immigrants.
Correct also said that the train station was an extremely important heritage asset that added even more opportunity, said Moore.
The Forecast/Porter proposal includes a five-storey hotel, 48,000 square feet of retail space, office space and a cafe.
"It would be a southern anchor for the downtown," Wolinsky said. "They have been having trouble getting people from south-Barrie to come downtown."
He said there might also be a downtown kiosk on the Allandale lands, as well as a trolley, or shuttle, to the core.
"The uses on the site haven't changed," Wolinsky said of the new Forecast/Porter proposal. "But the design has changed and we have added a few more ideas."
The existing Allandale station buildings are about 11,000 square feet, but would probably need to be expanded to 15,000 sq. ft. in order to include the museum.
Building costs for the children's museum are estimated at $5 million, although the city has $2 million to contribute toward that, with an annual operating budget of $500,000.
The federal and provincial governments could help fund the capital costs. Renting out part of the facility, at-the-door revenues, money from a possible gift shop, or even a restaurant, could help off-set the operating costs.
The museum would have permanent exhibits focused on the ecology and environment of Lake Simcoe. Barrie's railway history would have exhibits on technology and heritage.
The existing Allandale Station buildings were constructed between 1895 and 1905. The station closed in the 1980s, but train tickets could still be bought there into the 1990s.
The city bought this land, along with the rail line (now the GO train line) between Barrie and Bradford in the late 1990s, when CN Rail abandoned the line.