Work is progressing on a 60,000-square-foot mall being built on The Kingsway in Sudbury, where motorists along the busy roadway have seen the rock wall gradually blasted and broken up over the last few months.
Developer Norm Bouffard has been planning the mall for a few years, having received approval for the project from the city’s planning committee in 2010. It's where he plans to move the family business — Skater's Edge, currently located on Lasalle Boulevard — which has run out of space for expansion. He plans to lease the remaining space, likely including a restaurant.
Once complete, it would share the same traffic light as the RioCan Centre beside Chapters. Bouffard said that he'll have more details in a few weeks, but the idea is to create a retail centre along The Kingsway, one of the busiest roadways in the city.
“That's the plan, yes,” he said. “Nothing is completely confirmed yet. We're in the process of finalizing a deal.”
A substantial amount of rock has been blasted and crushed over the summer, most of which will be used in construction.
“It all stays on site — you crush it and use it for (aggregate).”
Further up on the Kingsway, the people behind the Jack Nicholas Business and Innovation subdivision will go to the planning committee seeking a rezoning for their 64-acre development.
It's a project that has evolved over the years, beginning as a 33-lot light industrial park in 2010. Developer Miro Zulich bought the land more than 20 years ago with the plan to “develop a world class industrial park,” he told the planning committee at the time.
When the provincial Liberals announced two years ago they were going to build casinos across the province — including in Sudbury — he applied for a rezoning to permit the casino to be built there.
But with the casino plan shelved indefinitely, the developer withdrew that application. Plans now call for the property to include an office, hotel, bulk retail, warehouse and commercial recreation centre. A rezoning application will go to the planning committee to permit a broader range of uses for the land, allowing the development of recreational uses.
While staff is recommending approval, it does want the developer to pay for a sidewalk on the north side of the Kingsway, as well as for road entrance on the west side of the development. A traffic study will also have to be completed once the owner knows what sort of businesses will go in there.
In addition, the site is close to the city's landfill, meaning “periodic nuisances” — or smells — are a possibility.
And finally, the area is a potential habitat for the Blanding’s turtle and the whip-poor-will, two species designated as ‘threatened’ in Ontario by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“The proponent will need to contact the Sudbury District MNR and satisfy all requirements set out by the MNR under the Endangered Species Act prior to any site alteration or construction taking place on the subject lands,” says a staff report on the application.
