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“Talk about money going up in flames.”
Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino stated final week’s big blaze that not solely burnt down a century residence on the downtown’s southern entrance, it additionally took away a big piece of city art work that value him $3,000.
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“I’m not gonna miss it, but that’s three grand I put out for paint,” he advised the Windsor Star.
Just 4 days after fireplace ripped by means of the fenced-off, long-vacant structure at 841 Ouellette Avenue, crews and heavy equipment have been already busy on Monday, tearing down the leftovers close to the intersection with Elliott Street.
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For virtually a yr, metropolis council’s downtown consultant stated he’d been pushing and prodding the out-of-town landlord to do one thing with the “eyesore” on the gateway to Windsor’s downtown. Last fall, Agostino supplied and was granted permission to let some native mural artists go at it with pails of paint. It grew to become the Rainbow House.
“Every week, I’m calling these guys, putting on pressure,” stated Agostino, identified even earlier than his 2022 election to council as an enormous booster and promoter of downtown Windsor.
“Ironically,” he added, the identical day of the in a single day fireplace final Thursday, sturdier new fencing was anticipated to go up. He stated work was lastly anticipated to start by the tip of this month.
“Obviously, they’re disappointed,” he stated of the homeowners and the architect designing the structure’s future use.
Agostino stated the plan at one level was to renovate the historic home and open a pharmacy. Later, the intention was for a pharmacy “with some apartments.”
Now, it’ll be vacant, identical to the encompassing property owned by the Downtown Mission. With the most recent phrase from the mission that it hopes to maneuver its operations nearer to the town’s proposed Homelessness and Housing Help Hub additional to the west, Agostino stated there’s new potential for the world.
Windsor police are investigating the fireplace, which is being handled as suspicious.
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Agostino desires to see extra housing, together with for the location of the previous Windsor library principal department immediately throughout Ouellette Avenue.
“Everything we’re looking at from a development standpoint in the downtown now should be housing,” Agostino stated.
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