High-rise residential development in and around downtown Barrie could put enough future boots on the ground to make the area self-sustaining for its businesses, says Rob Hamilton.
The Downtown Barrie Business Improvement Area (BIA) chairman says a half-dozen or so planned developments, stretching from Bradford Street to Dunlop Street East, are just the tonic for retail stores, restaurants and bars in the city’s core.
“This has the potential to increase our residential population by 6,000 to 8,000 people,” Hamilton said. “It’s got to be a self-sustaining community, so that we don’t depend on tourism and we don’t depend on events to bring people to our downtown.
“So there are people living and working down here that will support the businesses and the whole thing is sustainable. Any tourism we get, and any people coming down for events…that is a bonus. Then the downtown will be fabulous," he said.
Hamilton said all of the development applications are very much alive and moving forward. From projects by HIP, SmartCentres, and Barrie Waterfront near Dunlop Street West to Advance Tech at the Five Points, Revera in the Owen/Collier streets area, and Lakhouse at the old Lakeview Dairy site on Dunlop East, it’s all coming down the pipe in one stage or another.
“That will be a huge benefit for our downtown. They will all be within walking distance,” the BIA chairman said.
Hamilton said the three things downtown Barrie needs are a grocery store, a gentrified liquor store and a pharmacy. And they should go right near the Barrie market precinct and the future permanent market (transit terminal) on Mary Street, he suggested.
“It’s got to go right in that area (market) because we want everybody to be able to walk to it,” he said. “So you’ll get out of your condo on the lakeshore, or (HIP) or the Five Points, you take your shopping bag, you walk down the street, you go get your bottle of wine and you get your produce and your dinner for that night, you get your meds, you go to your favourite coffee shop, your favourite bakery or your restaurant and have lunch. You walk home or you walk to the beach, or the trails," he explained.
And Hamilton says the BIA has hired a public relations firm to get its message out on a number of fronts, some which have already arrived.
“Our message is 'hey, we’ve got a brand new streetscape, it’s beautiful and when the patios are out there it’s a really good experience.' Come on down and re-discover your downtown,” he said.
“So we’re re-doing our website, we’re re-doing our branding, and we want to get a very positive message out there to the public that the best is yet to come. The downtown is going to rise out of the ashes and it’s going to flourish.
“Now what’s the problem in the downtown? We have no pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks, there’s nobody walking up and down the sidewalks shopping, so we have to give people a reason to come downtown.”
Downtown Barrie has plenty of challenges - competition from shopping malls, on-line shopping and, right now, the pending pandemic lockdown most Ontario businesses are facing.
But in the long term, residential development could provide the stable customer base downtown Barrie needs.
It begins with the former Barrie Central Collegiate site - 34-50 Bradford St., and a portion of 125 Dunlop St. W. - where HIP Developments plans to build two 20-storey towers, one 10-storey residential building, a three-storey YMCA, a semi-public urban parkette containing the heritage facade of Prince of Wales School and a five-storey parking structure. In all there would be 600 residential units on the nearly seven-acre property. Its final site plan still requires city council’s approval.
And development continues with SmartCentres, which is proposing to build rental residential towers of 41, 38, 35 and 25 storeys at 51-75 Bradford St. and 20 Checkley St., with as many as 1,900 units in total, along with commercial space and a hotel on 8.6 acres of property between Bradford and Lakeshore Drive.
Council will vote on the needed rezoning and Official Plan amendment at its Jan. 11 meeting. Site plans for its phased construction will also require council approval.
Then at 39-67 Dunlop St. W. and 35-37 Mary St., Barrie Waterfront Developments is planning a mixed-use, high-rise project of two 32-storey residential towers with 495 units in its first two phases, including a six-storey podium with ground floor retail/commercial uses and parking. The project’s site plan control application is still being reviewed.
At the Five Points - where Bayfield, Dunlop and Clapperton streets intersect - Advance Tech Developments has proposed a 20-storey residential building with more than 200 condominiums, ground-floor commercial and parking at 2-14 Dunlop St. W., 43 and 45 Maple Ave. and 30-42 Bayfield St. Advance Tech has submitted rezoning and site plan control applications to the city for this development.
Heading east, developer Revera is planning a retirement residence of more than 300 units and ground-floor commercial at 9-17, 21, 23, 25 Owen St. and 47, 49, 51, 53 Collier St. The project’s site pan is under review.
And shovels are in the ground for Lakhouse Lakeside Residence at 185-265 Dunlop St. W., the former Lakeview Dairy site. The 10-story boutique, Scandinavian-inspired condominium project will sit alongside Barrie’s North Shore Trail. It’s to be a mixed-use building with 178 condominium units, 248 total parking spaces, and ground-floor commercial uses. Aalto Developments registered its site plan for the project almost a year ago.
“I think there will be a demand for this type of residential development in a place like Barrie,” Hamilton said. “Live in a condo, have the (Kempenfelt) bay right across the street, have a beach right across the street, have a historic, well-functioning downtown with all the amenities, all within walking distance. You never have to get in your car.
“We’ve got it all.”
