News   Apr 25, 2024
GTA 2024 BILD Award Finalists Announced — and You Can Vote!
 310     0 
News   Apr 25, 2024
Brightwater Resubmission Proposes Increased Density and Height in Port Credit
 977     3 
News   Apr 25, 2024
Wyse Meter Solutions Encouraging Sustainability Through Submetering Technology
 1K     0 

Niagara Falls Exchange: Cultural Hub & Farmers' Market (2s, DTAH)

AlbertC

AlbertC

Superstar
Member Bio
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
22,274
Reaction score
60,148
Location
Davenport
dtah.com

DTAH

DTAH is an award winning architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design firm located in Toronto.
dtah.com

The new Niagara Falls Exchange in the historic Main and Ferry district will include a large culture and market hall, café, artist studios, creative workshop and public washrooms surrounded by two multi-functional civic plazas that interconnect the flanking streets. Located adjacent to the Niagara Falls History Museum, the site is knit together with a design language that prioritizes an accessible public realm, and creates quality indoor and outdoor space that is durable, flexible, and sustainable. The working title of the project, the Niagara Falls Exchange (NFX), speaks to the rich exchange of ideas and creativity that is anticipated to occur on site and between the arts and culture, food and farming communities of Niagara Falls.
Click to expand...

Article from April 2019 indicating that building has won Niagara Falls council approval:

www.stcatharinesstandard.ca

$12.3M cultural hub, farmers' market wins Niagara Falls council approval

Niagara Falls council has given the go-ahead to a new cultural hub and farmers' market in the Main and Ferry streets area.
www.stcatharinesstandard.ca www.stcatharinesstandard.ca

Further info:

letstalk.niagarafalls.ca

Niagara Falls Cultural Hub & Market

Background: A Hub for Culture, Food and People Niagara Falls City Council’s 2015-2018 Strategic Priorities include a commitment to building and promoting a vibrant, sustainable city that supports an active, connected and creative community. It identifies both the revitalization of the Niagara...
letstalk.niagarafalls.ca letstalk.niagarafalls.ca

Site involved:

1597875420548.png


1597874914231.png

1597874933031.png

1597874947860.png

1597874960549.png

1597874971956.png
 
Is this located in the actual, real downtown of Niagara Falls where the tourists don't go?
 
Towered said:
Is this located in the actual, real downtown of Niagara Falls where the tourists don't go?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's in their downtown and will redevelop the current Niagara Falls Farmers' Market. It's not too far from Clifton Hill, but still a bit off the beaten path for the usual tourists.

1597951645578.png
 
Niagara falls has 2 downtown areas outside of Clifton Hill - this one is at the one at Main Street and Lundys Lane, while the other, larger, one is close to the GO station on Queen Street.
 
It's just the nature of Niagara Falls, which was made up of several communities (Niagara Falls proper, where the GO/VIA station is), Chippewa (at the mouth of the Welland River), and Drummondville (later renamed Niagara Falls Village), where the corner of Main and Ferry is today, and which explains the old town hall where the museum is located. That's why it's called Main Street, though the two original downtowns were amalgamated (along with Clifton Hill area) in 1904. (Chippewa and remaining parts of Stanford Township weren't part of Niagara Falls until the 1960s/1970s era of amalgamation and regionalization).
 
ShonTron said:
It's just the nature of Niagara Falls, which was made up of several communities (Niagara Falls proper, where the GO/VIA station is), Chippewa (at the mouth of the Welland River), and Drummondville (later renamed Niagara Falls Village), where the corner of Main and Ferry is today, and which explains the old town hall where the museum is located. That's why it's called Main Street, though the two original downtowns were amalgamated (along with Clifton Hill area) in 1904. (Chippewa and remaining parts of Stanford Township weren't part of Niagara Falls until the 1960s/1970s era of amalgamation and regionalization).
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the side effect of this, like in other amalgamated towns (like Cambridge), is that attention gets split up among several main streets- the result usually being a discontinuous suburban patchwork with no real centre. Niagara Fall doubly so, since the Falls/Clifton Hill will basically suck up all the attention themselves but lack a permanent, real year-round community.

I hope that Niagara GO plans plus large-scale redevelopment of the train yards can provide its old Main Street with the residents it needs. I also think there's a strong cause for an LRT/BRT line that linearly connects the GO station down south to Clifton Hill, and then to the casino cluster and the convention centre.

Edit: A quick map whipped up to show some possible routes- I think the fundamental issue with Niagara Falls is the lack of any continuous arterial network- many of its streets near the trip generators are quite narrow and unsuitable for transit separation, and most are lined with low-rise residential which may object to transit. The alternative routes further west conversely miss the main trip generator at Clifton Hill.

Niagara Falls Transit.jpg
 
Last edited:
ShonTron said:
It's just the nature of Niagara Falls, which was made up of several communities (Niagara Falls proper, where the GO/VIA station is), Chippewa (at the mouth of the Welland River), and Drummondville (later renamed Niagara Falls Village), where the corner of Main and Ferry is today, and which explains the old town hall where the museum is located. That's why it's called Main Street, though the two original downtowns were amalgamated (along with Clifton Hill area) in 1904. (Chippewa and remaining parts of Stanford Township weren't part of Niagara Falls until the 1960s/1970s era of amalgamation and regionalization).
Click to expand...
Yeah this is true with four different downtown areas ! The One by the train station being the main hub . And for those of you who are movie buffs and are familiar with Avatar Titanic and the Terminator etc ! The film maker James Cameron lived near Chippewa's downtown area when he was young. They have a billboard dedicated to him before you enter Chippewa on Portage Rd pass Marineland.
 
I think Niagara Parkway by the falls should also be pedestrianized. It's a huge mess of people falling off curbs into traffic on a busy day. Besides, it is not a route anyone should be taking if they are trying to go crosstown Niagara Falls anyway. It's just a stubbornness to maintain vehicular access.
 
cd concept said:
Yeah this is true with four different downtown areas ! The One by the train station being the main hub . And for those of you who are movie buffs and are familiar with Avatar Titanic and the Terminator etc ! The film maker James Cameron lived near Chippewa's downtown area when he was young. They have a billboard dedicated to him before you enter Chippewa on Portage Rd pass Marineland.
Click to expand...
It would be great if there were a street named after James Cameron.
 
dtah.com

Groundbreaking on new Niagara Falls Exchange

A virtual groundbreaking for the new Niagara Falls Exchange in Niagara Falls was held on December 8, 2020 by the City of Niagara Falls..
dtah.com

Groundbreaking on new Niagara Falls Exchange

December 16, 2020

A virtual groundbreaking for the new Niagara Falls Exchange in Niagara Falls was held on December 8, 2020 by the City of Niagara Falls. The groundbreaking marks the start of construction on this exciting new development. Watch the groundbreaking video on YouTube here

The new Niagara Falls Exchange will become a vibrant centre of activity in the community by providing shared spaces where artists, musicians, food vendors, and local businesses can come together and create. The entire site is knit together with a design language that prioritizes an accessible public realm and creates quality indoor and outdoor space that is durable, flexible, and sustainable. For more information, see the project page


 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top