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

Photo's I took when I was back in browntown last weekend.

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I don't know if it's nostalgia or a fresh eye now that these buildings have been sentenced but they seem to look better than ever. I heard a rumour that demolition has been halted while heritage officials have a look. I want this to be true.
 
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Note the stump of the 130 year old tree they chopped down on the back slope in preparation for demolition.

As an update, right now the demo is awaiting an OK from the federal government, as they seek clarification on how the slope will be stabilized. There is concern that tearing out these buildings will destabilize the rest of the downtown, as the entire thing is perched on the edge of the river escarpment, with these buildings serving essentially as a 150 year old retaining wall.
 
sabbatical! said:
Note the stump of the 130 year old tree they chopped down on the back slope in preparation for demolition.

As an update, right now the demo is awaiting an OK from the federal government, as they seek clarification on how the slope will be stabilized. There is concern that tearing out these buildings will destabilize the rest of the downtown, as the entire thing is perched on the edge of the river escarpment, with these buildings serving essentially as a 150 year old retaining wall.
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There is some incredible ironic symbology in there, I had to laugh. If this strip is truly acting as a retaining wall, the whole city may slip away if these buildings are demolished-- literally and figuratively.
 
It does indeed look more beautiful than ever, and it's sad that it all looks as if it's about to disappear. Thanks for the backyard views, they make me like these buildings even more.
The whole situation just boggles my mind- if it's all demolished, the slope will be so difficult for any developer to even work with.
I really hope something gets done to stop this.
 
What a shame - a group of modest, fairly similar buildings that work well because of the collective statement they make.
 
One of the councillors tried to put up a bid to save 5 of the 41 buildings that are across from the central square (the square will be facing a parking garage once the demolitions are complete), but was shot down by fellow councillors AND city planners on Tuesday. http://www.brantnews.com/news.cfm?page=news&section=read&articleId=7380

Meanwhile, the continuing gutting of the buildings continues unabated, although outright wrecking balls haven't hit yet since there is no guarantee on federal funding as of yet.
 
I think it is absolute rubbish that not one of the buildings would be spared and renovated. As both an Architect and Financial professional I cannot see any person being able to reasonably justify this. I bet I could sketch up in 5 minutes what they are going to do to that strip. It will be utterly predictable and soul-less I'm sure. -- It pains me terribly to see another charming small town get sucked into the black hole known as suburbia.
 
Also, it is completeley ludicrious that they would turn all of that original, rare brick into dust. Talk about entropy.

How can these people, so carelessly, erase parts of the town's collective narrative? This is a great tragedy.
 
Buildings are still all up, as the federal government is refusing to sign off on the environmental assessment so that funding would be guaranteed for the project. Good for them! Hope they keep it up.

Problem is, now these buildings are all standing empty and not well secured, with the windows taken out of many the buildings leaving them open to the elements and easily accessible to anyone with a will, and additionally last night I learned outside doors are being left open at night for vandals to have free access. My personal opinion is that this is a strategy; there is a hope that vandals will strike and set fires, and then the demolitions can be justified in the fallout from that in terms of "public safety".
 
toronto_john said:
How can these people, so carelessly, erase parts of the town's collective narrative? This is a great tragedy.
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It doesn't seem like 'anyone' in Brantford perceives or understands, nevermind values the narrative. A bit of a tin ear to it there i'd say, though I don't think too many other communities are that in tune either. Shame.
 
This is so unfortunate, but at the same time, no one has come to the table with any ideas to save this stretch, or even part of it. Im guessing the buildings are in such bad condition that they actually scared developers away.

Still, very unfortunate.
 
Tuscani01 said:
This is so unfortunate, but at the same time, no one has come to the table with any ideas to save this stretch, or even part of it. Im guessing the buildings are in such bad condition that they actually scared developers away.

Still, very unfortunate.
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Actually, the largest heritage developer in Ontario, who has millions in managed square footage across the province, came to Brantford, uninvited by the council, to present to council a proposal to insert his own capital to buy buildings to renovate, and to help design and execute the full redevelopment project, but he was told by council that they are not interested in any redevelopment proposal which does not included demolition of all buildings (virtually all of which are structurally sound, many of which are in fair to excellent condition.)

There have also been multiple proposals come out from community members for the strip, but the council is not interested. If they were to put out a request for RFP for the buildings, or offer to sell the buildings one by one at market value (let alone at under market value) they would likely get a lot of interest. But we'll never really know, because they're dead set against people being allowed to express interest, now that the buildings are out of the hands of slumlord Steve Kun's virtual monopoly.
 
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