Downtown St. Catharines

The Old Courthouse, at the corner of James and King streets

The downtown core of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada is defined by the city as the area between Highway 406 on the west and south, Geneva Street on the east until it reaches St. Paul Street then Niagara Street north until it meets Welland Avenue.

The area was originally known as a storehouse for goods at the crossing of an Iroquois trail over Twelve Mile Creek. Curving Indian trails formed the foundation of the downtown streets as they appear today. Among them remains the largest and most historically significant of the city, St. Paul Street - the spine of Downtown St. Catharines. Construction of the first and second Welland Canals behind St. Paul Street quickly elevated the area into a prosperous hub for commerce and industry in the Niagara Region.

The downtown's extensive history left an impressive showplace of heritage sites in the core. Architectural landmarks reveal the stories behind St. Catharines varying roles as the former seat of Lincoln County, a popular health-spa destination, and the premiere retail centre for Niagara. Like many downtowns in North America, the area experienced significant decline as shopping malls and power centres in the suburbs took over as major shopping destinations. Today, the downtown is experiencing its lowest vacancy rate since 2000, with over 120 shops, boutiques and over 50 culinary establishments. It has become particularly popular among Brock University and Niagara College students who frequent the many bars and clubs that are centred on St. Paul & James Streets.

Citizens of St. Catharines often complain of the lack of parking and inconveniences associated with one-way streets in the core. On April 3, 2006, St. Catharines City Council voted in favour of returning two-way traffic to the downtown core, at an anticipated cost of $2 million. As of October 2009, most of the conversion work is complete but is too early to determine whether two-way traffic has been successful in making streets safer, slowing down traffic and boosting business. The addition of two-way traffic, especially to St. Paul Street, played a role in the Ontario Wine Council's decision to modify the Niagara Wine Route to pass through downtown St. Catharines in 2014.[1]

On June 16, 2006 the Province of Ontario released a Growth Plan under the Places to Grow Act, 2005. In the plan, Downtown St. Catharines was one of 22 places identified as an Urban Growth Centre, which will give the area a growth target of 150 residents and jobs combined per hectare by 2031.

Since the Places to Grown Act, municipal and regional governments have invested heavily in infrastructure projects in the downtown core. A detailed inspection and analysis of the Burgoyne Bridge in 2010 revealed the need for a new span over Twelve Mile Creek. Construction on the new signature bridge, which features a steel truss-arch, began in 2014 with an estimated budget of $91.35 million.[2] In the nearby Lower Level Parking Lot, construction began in 2013 on the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, a new campus of Brock University. When completed in 2015, the school will operate alongside the city's new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, which is also under construction on adjacent lands, and will house 500 full-time students in new buildings along St. Paul Street and the historic Canada Hair Cloth building.[3]

The grand opening of the city's new spectator arena, the Meridian Centre, took place on October 21, 2014. The 5,300 seat arena was built by the municipality to house the Niagara IceDogs ice hockey team of the Ontario Hockey League.

Places of interest

Architecture on Ontario St.
The former Welland House
James Street

Heritage Corridor

The St. Catharines Economic and Tourism Services department, with support from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, launched the Heritage Corridor Project in 2004. The goal of the project is to draw tourists off the Niagara Wine Route into St. Catharines' downtown and other historically significant areas.

Places to live

A few streets within the St. Catharines Downtown Core where the houses are primarily used for residential purposes.

SmartGrowth

The Gerrard, Beecher, and James Street area scored 'Pretty good' in the "Walkability ranking of your community", a program which evaluates how well a neighbourhood rates as a village, provided through the Ontario Smart Growth Network.

The downtown core, as seen from the Westchester Crescent overpass

Places to work

The St. Catharines Downtown Core provides many places of employment. Here are a few:

Lost heritage

References

  1. "Wine Route Has Arrived in Downtown St. Catharines". St. Catharines Economic Development and Tourism Services. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  2. "Task Force Created to Look Into Burgoyne Bridge Replacement". Canoe Sun Media. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  3. "With construction finished, Brock’s new downtown arts school gets ready to educate". The Brock News. Retrieved 1 June 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 43°09′30″N 79°14′50″W / 43.15833°N 79.24722°W / 43.15833; -79.24722

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