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The rebirth of a downtown
May. 27, 2009
For years, if not decades, downtown St. Catharines has struggled to find its footing. The once bustling core of Niagara's largest urban centre followed the trend of urban centres across North America as it was hollowed out by retailers moving into malls and strip plazas and the building of commercial and business parks on spacious lands well beyond the reach of downtown.
Over the years, successive city councils requested staff and consultant's reports to create plans to revitalize the downtown. Each time, small steps were taken -- but the transformative steps never materialized or the plan was simply too grand for the council of the day.
That was until Friday.
In the shadows of the Canada Hair Cloth Building in the lower level parking in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario's Minister of Transportation and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley, St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra and St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan jointly announced the funding of a $54- million, state-of-the-art Niagara Centre for the Arts and Recital Hall for downtown St. Catharines.
This announcement, combined with the already announced relocation of Brock University's Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, which is slated to move into the historic Canada Hair Cloth Building, is the transformative step that has been so elusive for St. Catharines.
Please see full story by Walter Sendzik in The St. Catharines Standard at: