A $45-million residential development could be one step closer to becoming a reality at Windsor's City Council Monday.
The city's planning standing committee approved a boundary change for the Downtown Windsor Community Improvement Project — which will allow a three acre site on Wyandotte St. W. at Crawford Ave. to take advantage of incentives.
Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt says the block of land is just an extension of the existing boundary, and for a property that hasn't seen a change in decades, it's a no brainer for council to get things moving.
"Land that's been vacant since the '80s so this is exciting, it's exciting for council, for the neighbourhood and to see this kind of level of investment coming into our city is something that really needs to be celebrated," he says.
The 160-unit six-floor housing development will do more than just fill up some vacant land, according to Holt.
"One hundred and sixty units of residential development that will be patronizing our local restaurants and grocery stores," says Holt. "It's a huge economic injection into the core of the city."
After the success of the downtown CIP, Holt says the next logical step for council is to eliminate the need to extend and roll out incentive plans for business improvement associations across the city.
"This is just the start and my fingers are crossed and I'm really working with administration to make sure this comes together in a fairly quick fashion," he says.
Developer Rob Piroli has previously told AM800 News the plan is to get things moving by next spring.