Brantford Colborne Point | ?m | ?s | Vrancor Development

Northern Light said:
There actually is new density arriving at the edges of the downtown.

I have some hope; but any success here will happen despite Brantford rather than because of it.

****

Abuse of narcotics/opiods is an issue everywhere, better hidden in some places than others, but Brantford does have an inordinate issue.

Though I can't say I ever felt unsafe when visiting.
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Brantford's only chance at revitalization is through scooping up the middle class forced to flee the GTA housing crisis.
 
Towered said:
Brantford's only chance at revitalization is through scooping up the middle class forced to flee the GTA housing crisis.
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Enhanced rail connections to Hamilton/Toronto (GO/VIA or both) would be one key marker.

Worth saying though, the train station isn't right downtown.

There, the biggest hope probably remains Laurier's campus.
If they drive the student population up that will yield some positive returns.

*****

But really, Brantford has to get out of the way of its potential.

They downtown streets need to be 2-way, with far-better streetscaping. What's left of the heritage really needs to be nurtured.
Views of the Grand River that have opened up need to be given gorgeous landscapes, an outlook, and a grand staircase down to the river level.
 
Northern Light said:
Enhanced rail connections to Hamilton/Toronto (GO/VIA or both) would be one key marker.

Worth saying though, the train station isn't right downtown.

There, the biggest hope probably remains Laurier's campus.
If they drive the student population up that will yield some positive returns.

*****

But really, Brantford has to get out of the way of its potential.

They downtown streets need to be 2-way, with far-better streetscaping. What's left of the heritage really needs to be nurtured.
Views of the Grand River that have opened up need to be given gorgeous landscapes, an outlook, and a grand staircase down to the river level.
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I'm a bit baffled that it isn't connected to the GO network since it's not that far and has a population around 100,000. It's insane really. Is there a good spot downtown where the station could be moved?
 
Towered said:
I'm a bit baffled that it isn't connected to the GO network since it's not that far and has a population around 100,000. It's insane really. Is there a good spot downtown where the station could be moved?
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It has a GO bus, actually, that connects to McMaster and to Aldershot GO. That only launched a few years ago.

There really isn't a better spot for the station - it's as close to downtown as the CN mainline gets. It is a reasonable (10 minute) walking distance to the north end of Downtown, where much of WLU's campus is located. There is a small CN freight yard (which has seen much less use as Brantford's older heavy industry disappeared; it's mostly a staging area for the train to Nanticoke and the switcher to a few local customers), and there's room for a full-sized GO platform on the station lands. And room for 100 or so commuter parking spots too.

On the other hand, Brantford is getting quite out the of the way for GO service - it'd require a third branch of the Lakeshore West corridor, and there's already a VIA train on a commuter-friendly schedule operating between London and Toronto. There are few opportunities for a commuter rail station between Brantford and Aldershot too, as the line runs through a rural area, distant from built-up areas, and then it descends the escarpment. The old station grounds at Dundas wouldn't provide the room that GO would need to stop a 10 or 12 car train.
 
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ShonTron said:
It has a GO bus, actually, that connects to McMaster and to Aldershot GO. That only launched a few years ago.

There really isn't a better spot for the station - it's as close to downtown as the CN mainline gets.
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Pfft, you have no sense of imagination Sean!

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3.3K views · 29 reactions | Brantford Street Running on Clarence Street a little south of Colborne St. | March 31st 2021 about 11:20am I caught the train on the Burford spur as it was heading to Ingenia Plastics with some covered hoppers. The track i

March 31st 2021 about 11:20am I caught the train on the Burford spur as it was heading to Ingenia Plastics with some covered hoppers. The track is owned...
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Just have GO streetrun down Clarence!

Sure, you can only fit an L2 Consist between traffic lights...............

But the 'station can just straddle the entire downtown (and then a bit) across 4 city blocks and you can fit an L10, no problem! :D

Pick your car correctly and get off exactly at the block you desire!
 
A Dundas station is probably possible, but it would be tight, and wouldn't have any parking so would be fairly limited in utility with not much in walking distance. Unless you got creative and built a ped bridge over Highway 8 down to a parking area in the Dundas industrial lands or something, or put some parking on part of the Dundas Valley golf club with a bit of a walk to the station.

I could also see a park and ride type station at Highway 52 to service Ancaster and Cambridge commuters.

The bigger issue would be getting slots from CN to run the service.

I don't see an issue with some service extending to Brantford given that much of the existing lakeshore west service plans to terminate at Aldershot - some of it can extend to Brantford and some to Niagara.
 
This is the site of the former Colborne Block, the heritage row of shops that once lined Brantford's main street which the town recklessly bullzozed some years back.

They put the site out on the market, and got 3 submissions back, and announced yesterday than Vrancor was the winner.

Press Release here: https://www.brantford.ca/en/endorse...a-major-step-forward-for-city-s-downtown.aspx

From the above:

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Media Story here: https://www.stratfordbeaconherald.c...wcm/cca0ca9f-c8b0-448d-815a-91dee63add7b/amp/

Comments:

Ummmm, that render is what 'wow'ed 'em' in Brantford? Seriously? Also, this is Vrancor, they don't really build 'wow' / 'signature' stuff. Did anyone on Brantford's committee read Vrancor's CV ? LOL
I think I'll say "If the goal was to set expectations low, in the hopes they might be exceeded, they may have gotten something right"

Edit to add: That render does a very poor job of illustrating how they propose to handle the significant grade change here.

This image from their RFP gives a good sense of the grade change involved:

1693513479054.png
 
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Nice to see a new development but at this point it's lipstick on a pig. How can you have downtown revitalization when you have already completely destroyed your downtown? This is a travesty. Brantford never had a really vibrant core in the last 50 years but due to being an older city it had some very nice architecture and really solid bones. It was a diamond in the rough but still very much a diamond under all that dirt. Now it's a lump of coal and you could polish it every way possible and it will still only be a lump of coal.
 
ssiguy2 said:
Nice to see a new development but at this point it's lipstick on a pig. How can you have downtown revitalization when you have already completely destroyed your downtown? This is a travesty. Brantford never had a really vibrant core in the last 50 years but due to being an older city it had some very nice architecture and really solid bones. It was a diamond in the rough but still very much a diamond under all that dirt. Now it's a lump of coal and you could polish it every way possible and it will still only be a lump of coal.
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Thankfully the Laurier campus has breathed some life in Downtown Brantford during the school year. If only students had a nice stretch of retail and cafes to enjoy.
 
innsertnamehere said:
To revive this thread - it appears that the desecration of downtown Brantford continues, another block was recently demolished. Colborne Street between 2009 and 2020 looks like it's gone through a war bombing.

2009:

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2020:

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I just don't understand how a town can let half of it's history disappear over a period of a decade. It's completely mind blowing.
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It looks like Berlin or Rotterdam right after ww2
 
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