Niagara Falls 5259 Dorchester Road | 67.33m | 20s | Panoramic Properties | ACK

[ben.thebean1]

A large mixed-use proposal for Niagara Falls located immediately northeast of the QEW/420 interchange. Total of 13 towers across 9 buildings ranging from 5-20 storeys with podiums up to 8 storeys.

Total of 1782 residential units and 1822sqm of commercial space on the ground floor of the 3 buildings along Dorchester Road (right side of site plan)

Unsurprisingly this proposal includes 2352 parking spaces, which is actually less than the 2568 required by local standards. 2045 of the proposed spaces are within a 2-level underground parking garage which occupies roughly 3 quarters of the total site. however, over 900 bicycle spaces will be provided.

I don't see a rendering of the full development, but here are a few of the buildings:

Building 1, east side (top right, fronting Dorchester)

Building 4 (bottom right), north side (facing in), and south side (facing the highway)

Building 7 and 8 (centre), almost identical buildings with 2 towers each, just oriented differently

The site is a brownfield, address 5259 Dorchester Road. Not sure what exactly was on the site previously, but whatever it was, it was demolished around 2005 based on satellite imagery.

https://niagarafalls.ca/city-hall/planning/current-planning-applications/276-5259-dorchester-rd.pda

sidenote: I swear there was previously a similar proposal for this site, but I couldn't find anything in the database here or on the City of Niagara Falls website, so maybe I'm confusing it with something else, but the property was for sale in 2023 and advertised as a possible retail development, which is what the site is currently zone for:

aaand lastly, a personal note, although the parking requirements and all the surface parking are absolutely abysmal, and a handful of units will inevitably have a view of the 420 westbound to QEW Fort Erie flyover ramp, I do like this proposal overall. It has a good amount of park space and the Dawson/Dorchester intersection at the northeast corner of the site is less than 400 metres from the retail area around Dorchester and Morrison, which I assume will see some decent densification in the coming decade or so, as well as the eventual planned extension of Morrison across the QEW to Montrose and Woodbine

 

[Northern Light]

@ben.thebean1 Agree w/your commentary.

Want to ask, how is this sited relative to the frequent bus routes proposed for Niagara Region Transit? I linked to the approved plans over in the applicable thread.

 

[Sauga89]

The forested plot to the west is government land. It might make sense to offer that land to the developer to develop as part of this development, perhaps in exchange for building affordable units. If the Ontario government ever wants to develop that forested land later, they'll find themselves hemmed in on all sides after this development is built.

 

[ben.thebean1]

The forested plot to the west is government land. It might make sense to offer that land to the developer to develop as part of this development, perhaps in exchange for building affordable units. If the Ontario government ever wants to develop that forested land later, they'll find themselves hemmed in on all sides after this development is built.

Yeah it's a bit odd to me that they didn't extend Dawson further into the site rather than keeping the abrupt dead end, I guess because they figure nothing is getting built there and it's not their problem.

how is this sited relative to the frequent bus routes proposed for Niagara Region Transit?

https://www.nrtransit.ca/about-niagara-transit/roadmap/master-plan-project/
Options 3 and 4 have routes that run along Dorchester and Morrison and connect to regional lines, options 1 and 2 do not.

Additionally - and especially if this development is approved, the region should get it together and build an underpass to grade separate Dorchester from those train tracks between this development and the retail area.

 

[Sauga89]

@ben.thebean1 Agree w/your commentary.

Want to ask, how is this sited relative to the frequent bus routes proposed for Niagara Region Transit? I linked to the approved plans over in the applicable thread.

Options 3 and 4 have routes that run along Dorchester and Morrison and connect to regional lines, options 1 and 2 do not.

Additionally - and especially if this development is approved, the region should get it together and build an underpass to grade separate Dorchester from those train tracks between this development and the retail area.

They've since approved I think a mix of options 3 & 4. If you read deeper into the Niagara regional transit thread, you'll see Northern Light's post on it yesterday. You can find the full plans here.

It looks like once phase 3 starts in 2030, it'll see a corridor route with service every 15 minutes or better, plus a less frequent local route. A second corridor route would run from the Morrison/Dorchester plaza.