UWindsor Approves $12.8m Building For Tunnel BBQ Property

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Looking North down Freedom Way, with the Tunnel exit behind the point of view

The University of Windsor has approved the design of a new building in Downtown Windsor.

At a board of governors meeting, Tuesday afternoon, officials approved a $12.8 million design for a building to be constructed on the former Tunnel Bar-B-Q property.

The new building together with the Armouries will be home to the University’s School of Creative Arts.

The University says the School of Creative Arts was created through a merger of the School of Music, the School of Visual Arts and the Film Production Program. The new facilities in the city centre will provide an exciting creative complex for students, and enable SOCA to envision new interdisciplinary programs that build upon the merger, say University officials.

UWindsor president Alan Wildeman says the downtown campus ties education to an urban centre.

“The downtown projects integrate important historic landmarks into 21st century learning, outreach and creative hubs for our students, faculty and staff,” he said. “This integration is a reminder that a community’s future is built upon the foundations of its past. Both our main campus and our downtown campus will be distinctive for how they connect a university to the needs of a community and to society’s challenges.”

The new building was designed by CS&P Architects and will be a 22,335-square-foot, single-story building with a main entrance facing the corner of Freedom Way and Park Street East. Located directly across Freedom Way from the Armouries, it will house learning studios and editing suites for Media and Film Studies; workshops for metal and woodworking; digital fabrication labs and a printmaking studio.

Construction on the former TBQ site and the Armouries will commence early in 2015, according to the University. Completion is slated for August 2016.

The University says its Downtown Campus initiative will at a later date also include the transformation of the former Greyhound bus depot and nearby Chatham Street Parkette. Both of those locations were included with the Armouries, along with a $10M contribution, in the City of Windsor’s landmark investment in the University of Windsor’s downtown campus.