New 15,000 sq.ft. building under construction at Plaza Cornwall on Brookdale Avenue. The first confirmed tenant is Bulk Barn which will take the largest of the five available spaces. The 5,000 sq.ft. store is expected to open by early 2011. There are no confirmations at this time as to who the other tenants will be.
“We are currently talking to a number of retailers who are very interested in reaching Cornwall and area consumers,” said Tyler Harden, Leasing Director for the Harden Group. “We also plan to build one more building at this location, which will be approximately 37,000 sq.ft.”
“This development is another example of how Cornwall is getting the attention of major companies across Canada,” said Mayor Bob Kilger. “On behalf of City Council, I welcome Bulk Barn to Cornwall and commend the Harden Group for their ongoing investment in the City.”
The Harden Group is renowned for its impeccable construction quality and the commitment of its executives at all project stages, and has developed a number of commercial plazas in Quebec and Ontario. The company recently celebrated its 25th year in business, and is run by Bill Harden and his two sons, Tyler and Chris. The Harden Group is very well positioned to understand tenant needs, as it is itself the owner of a family-run jewellery business founded some 60 years ago.
About Bulk Barn
I’m all in support of this development, and love the new Shoppers Drug Mart. My concern is the traffic flow in this very unique set of roads.
For example, when merging south onto Brookdale Ave from Vincent Massey Drive, one must look behind to check the two lanes of southbound traffic, AND the cars approaching from the east, turning left onto Brookdale. Any of these vehicles may cut across the 3 lanes (two of Brookdale plus the Vincent Massey merge lane) to access the parking lot of this new development. If this isn’t confusing enough, cars leaving that parking lot sometimes cut across the three lanes in order to get to Tim Horton’s, or Tim Horton’s customers will do the opposite, sending a lot of surprise traffic in front of those cars entering from Vincent Massey who are often looking behind to see if it is safe to merge.
I feel that this area is an accident waiting to happen, and adding even more traffic will make things even more dangerous. I feel that the new plaza access should have been restricted to the side street only, as their Brookdale entrance is too close to the Vincent Massey on-lane where cars (and Trucks) are trying to merge into the Brookdale traffic. Add to this the new Pizza Hut, and the StarTek and Value Village entrances, and it’s just too many entrances in too small a space with too many blind spots.
I think the main intersection of Brookdale and Vincent Massey needs an overhaul, so that the traffic to and from Vincent Massey Dr. can be routed differently, though it’s a bit late now to change things, after these stores and entrances have been approved.
Having said that, I am all for this new plaza growing and providing even more services to our city – it’s just the location of the entrance that I have a concern with.
I agree with John Lister. Love the development but worried about the traffic.
I can see the road dividing at the intersection you mention John. Access will be limitied which is to say that you will need to be heading south to enter Shoppers Drug Mart and North to enter Kentucky Fried Chicken
Remember this is Cornwall plannig department, the same people which allowed Big Ben Recreation And Landfill Area to be situated right down town Cornwall….
I’m more worried about the east/west situation at MacConnell and 9th/Marleau
The intersection that serves Shoppers Drug Mart, Pizza Hut and other businesses is an embarrassment to city and traffic planners.
It’s one thing after another in the deperate bid for tax dollars and — unless city planners and administration are unashamedly negligent or incompetent — one can be forgiven for suspecting that it is favour driven as well.
Brookdale Av. will be a nightmare for local shoppers, and a must to avoid for transient traffic and visitors. The totally lacking foresight for Tim Horton’s locations such as Montreal Rd. and McConnell Av., and Ninth St. and Pitt St. were apparently just a warm up.
This is not the way to build an attractive or forward looking community, it is desparate pandering.
We can expect more and worse, when the Paris Holdings properties are being divied up, and the new bridge dumps a load of traffic right on to our riverfront.
An example of poor planning at this intersection is the route one must take when going north on Brookdale to take VIncent Massey out of town to the west.
Proceeding north on Brookdale, we arrive at Vincent Massey, but are not permitted to make the left turn we need. So we must wait at that light, then drive to the next light at 14th where we turn left, only to encounter another light at Vincent Massey before finally turning right onto Vincent Massey.
An alternative might be to use the wide median which exists on Brookdale where Vincent Massey and 13th street intersect it. If this median were turned into a left-turn lane for northbound traffic on Brookdale wishing to get to Vincent Massey, it would help keep traffic flowing. (one light instead of three) With properly timed advance greens, etc. it could work, and might solve part of the problem.
I think the worst problem here though, is the location of the new mall entrance, located in the merge lane where people from Vincent Massey are trying to merge with Brookdale traffic. They shouldn’t have to contend with a plaza entrance and exit while merging with oncoming traffic. It was a senseless move to locate it there, when the mall has much safer access to the side street, which is a road containing many other businesses already.
As this mall grows with more businesses, I predict we will see chaos due to too many vehicles cutting across the lanes of Brookdale at the same time. The existing (new) entrance could be made into an ‘exit only’ with a right-turn only onto Brookdale, while the main entrance and exit could be from the side street. Look at Wal-Mart, they had the sense to only permit right turns from the parking lot as it faces Brookdale. Perhaps a paved median is in order on Brookdale, at least near this intersection, which would reduce the number of vehicles cutting across all the lanes from the opposite side of the street.
In the meantime, I love bulk barn and am all for bringing in new merchants and developing Brookdale into the very beautiful commercial and residential district it has become, but a little planning would have gone a long way towards improved safety and functionality of the roadways.
I have not seen the full plans for the bridge yet but it looks like another boondoggle. We will loose the opportunity to make the old canal system profitable
This simply goes to substantiate that Facebook has realized more than most people at first expected.
All bridge drawings are at:
http://www.federalbridge.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=73
You’ll find that there is barely 1.5 metres clearance over the surface water of the canal (drawing #3)
and the new intersection (drawing #4) that will encroach on the park and pretty much interrupt east west passage through the park.
I am interested in seeing what a Bulk Barn would be like, but I am worried for our only bulk store, Sharyn’s Pantry. It’s kind of like when a Wal-Mart is built in a small town – people seem to prefer convenience over quality service.
I went to Bulk Barn myself to check it out, i love Sharyn’s Pantry very much, but im sorry to say that from what i’ve seen Bulk Barn has more variety, more popular items, cheaper prices and can deal with many people at once. Though on the other hand the employees at Bulk Barn won’t remember you like Sharyn does, they won’t share recipes with you like Sharyn does and it just doesn’t have that same warm neighbor feel. We need to support our local shops, but not everyone on this end of town will/can make the extra effort to go across town to Sharyns Pantry.
Perhaps this poorly planned traffic logistics around the malls will work to the advantage of the downtown!