The 1960s and 1970s spawned the era of urban renewal and in Thunder Bay the result was two projects which left a legacy of costs and expenses and mixed results – the downtown urban renewal malls. On the north side was Keskus and on the southside it was Victoriaville. These were the legacy projects of their day designed to reverse the retail exodus from downtown and restore them to their former glory.
The projects were slowly strangled by demographics as middle class residents moved to suburban areas and out of the downtown residential area, the rise of the intercity shopping area, cross-border shopping and most recently internet shopping. Victoriaville in particular was also hurt by the malls locational position that blocked the corner of Victoria and Syndicate – akin to putting a shopping mall right on the intersection of Dundas and Yonge in Toronto or James and King in Hamilton. Many cities had downtown urban renewal mall projects but Victoriaville was unique in how its design essentially killed traffic flow.
The two projects were also not helped by the loss of key anchor stores be it Eaton’s on the north side in the 1990s or Chapples on the south side during the recession and high interest rates of the early 1980s. The north side mall eventually made way for a casino and downtown redevelopment centred around waterfront tourism. The south side mall lingers on, given life support by the location of city government services and community functions. However, its days appear to be numbered as Thunder Bay City council will debate its future Monday evening.
A report being discussed presents four redevelopment opportunities for the area:
Options 1A & 1B: Revitalize the existing infrastructure through retaining the existing building and either revitalizing the retail components or repurposing the existing space; (Cost: 1A-$34,860,000 or 1B-$15,360,000).
Option 2: Reconfigure the existing infrastructure, reopen Victoria Avenue, and maintain a portion of the existing structure on Syndicate Avenue south of Victoria Avenue; (Cost:$22,490,000) and,
Option 3: Remove the existing infrastructure, reopen Victoria Avenue, and re- energize public spaces on Syndicate Avenue.(Cost: $10,750,000).
Options 1A and 1B essentially will keep the mall on top of the intersection, option 2 reopens Victoria but maintains Syndicate as blocked while option 3 reopens Victoria Avenue and reopens Syndicate fully but to “reenergized public spaces” which it appears means some type of pedestrian traffic but not vehicles. The report does not address the attached McKellar Mall – which is full of City offices for the most part and will continue on.
My guess is that there were be some support for 1B tomorrow night because City Councillors know that Victoriaville has to go but they still want to be seen as “constructive” and investing in the area’s activities and 1B allows them to both get rid of Victoriaville and pretend they are replacing it with another legacy. Option 2 will probably have a bit more support from those who like option 1B because it costs only a ‘bit more” but allows for a more innovative looking “legacy.” However, the best choice of the four is the last one – Option 3 and not because it is the cheapest but because it is the one that opens up the intersection the most though Syndicate is only going to be fully open as a pedestrian space. The intersection is much like a key artery and the blockage needs to be removed if there is any hope of more robust activity emerging in the area.
Even with the intersection opened up, the area is so far gone that it may likely never regain even a semblance of its former glory. Indeed, there are now too many competing interests for retail and office activity in Thunder Bay’s dispersed urban pattern to expect that much more will happen in the former Fort William downtown aside from government and social services. The best option is actually not there – Option 4: fully open up the intersection by removing the Syndicate Avenue parking ramp and making Syndicate a full street again just like that planned for the reopened Victoria. This is an option given that the very end of the report argues that the parking ramp can be relocated.
Given the current division of Council into fiscal realists and legacy investors, I would day that Option 3 will get five to six backers, while the remaining support will fracture between Option 1B and Option 2. Having four choices does not provide for a clear voting and decision process so getting to a final choice is likely to be messy. The only certainty is that cleaning up this legacy project is going to cost money no matter which way you look at it. Given that Mayor Mauro is on the record as stating that the last couple of years have seen “reasonable” tax increases, get ready for the 2021 “unreasonable” increase.
