Quote:
Originally Posted by Symz
I think if you read between the lines this article is telling us some bad news. First, Radisson pulled out of Windsor and the hotel was taken over by some rinky-dink company and turned into a hotel no one's ever heard of before. Now they might be selling it to Farhi? Including the Hilton?
What is this really telling us about the state of downtown? Companies are pulling out, and now Hilton? That's what this seems to be saying.
I think student housing for the old Radisson is a terrible idea for such a prime piece of land. It is an adaptive re-use in what I feel is the wrong location. The only bright side I see to it is it will put more warm bodies in that part of downtown and it is next to the bus terminal for the students. If Farhi puts some money into the building (it needs it) then I guess I could live with it, although like I said it wouldn't be my first choice of what to do with the property.
Months ago the Star ran stories of Farhi buying up properties downtown and made it seem promising. I have nothing against Farhi but he is a businessman, an opportunist and I'm a bit dissapointed that he is not actually building something new like the student housing, to fill in those abundant vacant lots downtown. All of this seems very well orchestrated and more like controlling the bleeding as opposed to positive growth. Lemons from lemonade kind of thing.
Why are companies pulling out and he is the only investor coming in? What has he really done in London?
Did you know as a side note that the swimming federation that governs this FINA event decided that Windsor's hotels didn't meet up to their standards and so people will either be staying in Detroit hotels or billeted in local family homes, and since the event will be held in the WFCU centre with a temporary pool due to the aquatic centre not having enough seating for the event how in the world will this event help out downtown?
As time goes by I'm left feeling more and more as though the aquatic centre will have been an expensive mistake. The city should have stuck to it's guns and built the damned arena downtown. There is nothing near the WFCU that can prosper from it being located where it is. Just look at the successes the JLC has brought to downtown London.
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Downtown has been struggling for years due to decades of neglect from former mayors and councils, not because of anything the current city leadership has done.
The Hilton may sell due to the fact that Caesars has two huge new hotel towers that it has to compete with and tourism in this city has dropped from a high of ten million visitors before 911 to around 3 million visitors now. There just isn't as many tourists as before, it has nothing to do with DT being a lost cause.
As for student housing in the old Compri Hotel, I think filling it with students is way better than a run down old hotel with very low occupancy. It may not be the best use of prime riverfront property, but as you know, it's not really in much demand anyway right now unfortunately. It will help existing hotels in the core with their occupancy also.
Farhi will build in windsor when there is demand, and that will follow when DT renewal gains more momentum with many of the developements currently planned. Companies come and go for many reasons,I wouldn't read too much into it.
FINA from the beginning was to be a two country event, so Detroit hotels were to be used regardless of what they thought of Windsor's stock, and really, I can't see the two Caesars hotel towers and the Hilton hotel not being up to par, just sayin'.
The WFCU Centre will be just fine for these events, and the event is meant to be
A boon for the who,e city, not just DT. People will still be staying in the core and eating in the restaurants.
How you can actually think that the Aquatic Centre could be a mistake is shocking to me. You realize that Windsor has been the only city of its size to not have an Olympic sized swimming pool in the whole country for decades, much smaller cities have had them for years, we are finally just trying to catch up. For gods sake , London has 3 of them, are we not worthy of even just one?
An as for the adjoining Family Water Park, we will once again finally have an attraction for local families as well as tourists to visit instead of having to travel to other cities that offer them. Residents have been complaining for years that Windsor has nothing to offer families in terms of attractions, now we will, and it will prove to be very popular attraction to be proud of.
As for the WFCU being DT, well, it's not, so we just have to live with that. I personally prefer the aquatic Centre there instead of an arena, as there will be people using it every day and night, not just a couple days a week when there is a game or show at an arena. It would have been great to have both DT, but sadly that is the way it turne out. I'm just thankful that the mayor and council got a damed arena built, regardless of where it is located, it is still a great venue and is well used. So many decades of trying to get one built and people still have the nerve to bitch about it. We could still be waiting for one to be built if it wasn't for the mayor making it happen. What he accomplished is huge!
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