Thorold South residents who have been clamouring for more commercial amenities in their neck of the woods might just get lucky.
The Rudanco Hospitality Corporation is looking to build a new subdivision at the corner of Lundy’s Lane and Thorold Townline Road, that would consist of residential and commercial buildings.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, David Falletta, who is a planner for Bousfield Inc., gave a presentation on the project.
“We got single townhouses, mixed-use development blocks, as well as commercial mixed-use development blocks,” he told council members. “Some of them are focused towards commercial as a predominant use and others are focused towards residential.”
The subdivision would have 46 detached dwelling units, 264 townhouses and 1,753 apartment units, as well as 4,556 square meters of commercial space.
Architect Ralph Giannone was on hand to give more background to the design of the new subdivision.
“We’re really quite excited about creating a sense of place, leveraging a place making experience of retail and gathering spaces,” he told council. “There’s opportunities for little squares and village greens within the more intense mixed-use neighbourhoods.”
The developer is looking to have low-rise residential developments on the northeast of the subdivision that would gradually get higher towards the southwest.
The tallest building would be as high as 20 storeys and situated on the corner of Thorold Townline Road and Lundy’s Lane. The developer hopes to have the new subdivision bustling with commercial activity.
“We absolutely have a strong retail component,” said Falletta. “The owner group is actively pursuing a grocery store. They’re looking very diligently to find a retailer because they agree that there’s a need for a grocery store.”
When asked if any of the housing units would sell for under $500,000, Falletta was not able to give a clear answer.
“We’re not at the point yet where we’ve identified what marketing is but what we’re trying to do is add a mix of housing to this neighbourhood,” he said. “We know that apartments are usually less than single family homes and street town houses. We don’t know what that number is but we’ll try to make it as affordable as possible.”
The new subdivision would utilize some of the new infrastructure put in by Rolling Meadows, such as sewers and water supply. That’s why the developer of Rolling Meadows is asking the City to require Rudanco to enter a cost-sharing agreement.
The subdivision is still in early development so there’s no set timeline for the project yet.
“There are a lot of units being proposed in this and we anticipate that it will be done in phases,” said Falletta. “By the time the community is fully built up it will take a long time. We don’t have an exact projection. It’s dependant on the market.”
A City Hall report on the proposed zoning changes necessary for the project will come to Council at a later date.
