STUDENT COMPLEX PLANS
Investors vow to respect Sandwich
A multimillion-dollar, three-building complex designed to house 340 university students in the heart of Olde Sandwich Towne will respect the location’s hallmark heritage or is unlikely to happen at all, said the frontman for a Toronto-based investment group.
Despite early site-plan drawings submitted to the city for the $25-million proposal that includes two large six-storey buildings, Matt Zhao of UCRez Property Management, which represents the group, said his job is to get the final design exactly right on what the community wants. “Right now it sounds like a big box, but we will meet with the city and listen to the community,” he said. “My job is to make our investors happy, local people happy and give students a place to stay. “The buildings may belong to us, but the history of the community does not. That belongs to everyone, so we will take the time to get it right.”
Zhao, 32, represents a group of four other Toronto-area investors. The group is in the midst of creating a similar student complex in Waterloo and has turned its attention to Windsor based on Zhao’s recommendation.
He cites the current hodgepodge of west-end rental options for University of Windsor students consisting primarily of aging single-family houses and apartment units.
Zhao’s vision of creating a student complex on two acres of property off the historic community’s main intersection of Sandwich Street and Mill Street includes commercial space. That ideally would feature a bank and grocery store, both currently absent from Sandwich due to closures, he said. Within the complex he also wants a student centre that would include a full kitchen and study rooms so that students from out f town can gather and feel connected.
If any construction is to happen, he said, the final design will respect the heritage of Sandwich.
A pair of prominent community leaders in Sandwich — lifelong resident Terry Kennedy and bake shop owner Mary Ann Cuderman — blasted the plan on Tuesday based on the early site-plan drawings handed to the city from the investment group. Kennedy referred to it as a “dormitory ghetto.”
The community criticism is not unexpected given the cherished history of the community, Zhao said Wednesday.
He vowed the investment group will get it right before construction is launched, which he hopes occurs in about a year with a goal of completion to house the first students in the fall of 2020.
In response to community criticism, Zhao pointed to his own previous personal investment in purchasing the former Sandwich post office — located across the street from the proposed student development.
Along with partner Luna Wang, he said they have spent $600,000 so far to bring the historic building back to life, an investment he expects will reach $1 million once completed.
A cafe located inside was opened by Wang two years ago but was shuttered last fall because the city was not satisfied the structure met fire safety codes and cited other building violations, according to Zhao.
Those building issues have now been satisfied, he said, and new city permits are in hand with hopes a business inside will reopen by the end of August.
Wang is now employed as an accountant in Detroit, Zhao said. But there are talks with other tenants to reopen within weeks as either a cafe or possibly an ice cream shop, he said.
There are greater revenue possibilities upstairs on the building ’s second floor where he showed off three bed-and-breakfast units on Wednesday, which should be completed by the end of this year. The third floor of the heritage building, once completed, will feature a private three-bedroom apartment, which his company will utilize for out-of-town visitors, Zhao said.
When asked about a blueprint for what the proposed student complex buildings might look like, Zhao cited the Loft apartments at Brock University in St. Catharines. Those buildings feature a historic brick-and-stucco appearance. He expects the initial six-storey plans presented to the city will eventually be downsized with facades put in place to comply with the community’s heritage guidelines.
Properties acquired by the investment group include Wally’s Baits, Barrel House Draught Co. and three additional structures on Sandwich Street.
The group also purchased vacant land facing Mill Street that most recently was home on summer weekends to the Olde Sandwich Towne Farmers’ Market, which has since relocated to the former Forster secondary school. “We will save Barrel House, we want to save Wally ’s Baits, but will have engineers look at it,” Zhao said.
The next two structures to the east on Sandwich Street have no historical significance and are likely to come down, he said. A third building furthest east on Sandwich, that includes a storefront attached to a home in the back, will also be saved as it has some historical significance and is the current home of his property management company, Zhao said. Once plans for the student housing development reach the final design and site-planning stage, everything will be presented to the west-end community for final feedback, promised Zhao, who recently moved his young family from Toronto to a home in LaSalle. “Our group knows that we will have to spend more time (before construction) to get an understanding from the community,” he said.
“We will show our entire plans to everyone. My name and reputation will be on this in Windsor, so we want to do this right.”
We will show our entire plans to everyone. My name and reputation will be on this in Windsor, so we want to do this right.