SYNERGIES IN DOWNTOWN BARRIE: REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

NRU
Jan. 11, 2017
Andrew Cohrs

Land use policies and favourable land values are sparking developers to get ambitious in downtown Barrie, proposing bold new projects. One, a 20-storey mixed-used condominium in the final stages of approval will be the tallest building in the city.

“If you were to come to downtown Barrie today, you’d probably look at three or four blocks and say ‘wow,  something is going on here’... The development community seems to have responded to our policy framework... Almost all of the [larger development applications] are in the downtown,” Barrie mayor Jeff Lehman told NRU.

Since the city identified areas of intensification–downtown and main corridors–land values have increased. Lehman explains that this has dramatically shifted the type of projects that developers are proposing.

“The economics have changed, the city’s [land] prices now support forms of development that were more difficult [previously] … if you didn’t have a waterfront view. Now you don’t need that because our [land] values are strong enough to support high-rise or medium-density construction.”

Advance Tech Development’s 20-storey mixed-use proposal for the Five Points site in downtown Barrie embodies this shift. Conditionally approved in December, the proposal includes 203 condominium units, nine of which are to have affordable rents, 196 parking spaces, an 84 m2 public space and 517 m2 of at-grade retail and commercial space. The 0.29 hectare site has been vacant since a 2007 fire destroyed the previous structures on the property. If constructed, it will be Barrie’s tallest building and the city’s first use of Section 37 to secure community benefits. But it’s not the only major development on the horizon.

“We have three other significant [development proposals] in and around downtown... two with significant [land] assemblies, both [would include] two towers each. They are not talking about any more height than the Five Points project. I think everyone is comfortable in the 15 to 20 storey range.”

Barrie senior planner Janet Foster agrees, telling NRU that with the downtown designated as a provincial growth centre that is where the city is focusing its growth.

“We do have to intensify and our urban growth centre— our downtown city centre—is where we are targeting the most growth... We have official plan policies that identify the [downtown] as one of our largest nodes...so we want to achieve a higher population, as well as higher employment opportunities.”

Lehman emphasises that the focus is on reenergizing downtown, not just meeting the provincial intensification and density targets.

“It’s less about being married to the math and more about creating a strong vibrant downtown, which is a residential neighbourhood as well as a commercial district.”

Accordingly, the city is focusing on attracting new businesses in the creative and technology industries to its downtown. Dense development, a vibrant downtown, retail opportunities and new businesses are all connected, Lehman says.

“When you create an urban neighbourhood where several thousands more people are living in that area, you are creating a built-in regular customer base for a lot of these businesses... A lot of these things, we are starting to realise, are synergistic with attracting entrepreneurs... [Downtown] has become the location of choice for the hot, young companies that are growing... and the interesting thing about those companies is they love the food and drink sector, they love the little shops, they love the events—it’s a part of their offer to attract new employees, it all goes together.”