175 Geddes Street

I’m one of the newest buildings you’ll meet on this walk. Take a moment to look at all that’s happening within my relatively small piece of downtown land. At street level, I have space for shops and services, and above I have 18 purpose-built rental apartments.

In planning, adding a new development within an already built-up part of a community is called infill. When that new development allows an existing area to accommodate more homes, businesses, or activity, you’ll often hear another planning term, called intensification. Here, both are happening at once. Infill and intensification are important for creating new homes and opportunities for people within existing built-up areas, while helping reduce pressure on surrounding agricultural lands and important natural spaces.

The combination of both homes and commercial space in the same building has another name; mixed-use development. Mixed-use is something you’ll see throughout older downtowns, even if nobody called it that when the buildings were constructed. This allows me to be incredibly efficient; to be a place where people can live and work at the same time. For generations, main streets have included shops, offices, and services at the street level, with people living in apartments above them. That mix puts different parts of daily life close together and helps keep a downtown active beyond any single use or time of day.

My apartments also add something quite specific, called purpose-built rental housing. Purpose-built rentals are designed and constructed specifically as rental homes. They form part of the community’s long-term rental housing supply and can provide another option for people who may not want, need, or be ready to own a home.

Now, look at how I meet the street. My commercial units face Geddes Street, with entrances and large windows along the sidewalk. Residential uses are above, while vehicle access and much of the parking are located toward the rear of the property. These details are what allow the commercial part of the building that most people experience while walking along Geddes Street to remain connected to the sidewalk and the activity of the downtown.

Although I am new, the basic idea behind me is deeply familiar in a place like Elora. People living close to shops and services, different uses sharing the same property, and buildings contributing actively to the public realm.

Downtowns have always changed as the needs of the people using them change. Sometimes that happens through a new building like me. A few steps away to the north, you’ll find an older heritage building circa 1867 at 195 Geddes Street that has adapted again and again without leaving its corner. It is known to the community as “the Connon Block” because it is associated with Thomas Connon, and his son John Robert Connon, notable local photographers and historians, whose studio was situated on the upper floor of the building. Continue towards 143 Metcalfe Street. Its story shows another way a downtown can evolve.