City to reveal details on downtown housing development

City of Windsor parking lot on Pelissier Street in Windsor, Ont. (Source: City of Windsor)

City officials will release details Wednesday morning on a future development under the Housing Solutions Made for Windsor strategy.

Speaking on AM800’s Mornings with Mike and Meg, Mayor Drew Dilkens says they’ll be discussing details on the Pelissier Street Parking Lot.

“We’re going to be talking about Pelissier; that was the next step in the Housing Solutions Made for Windsor, and we’re going to have a great announcement out there,” says Dilkens. “I think everyone is going to love what they see, and it talks about the future of the Pelissier Street parking lot site.”

In November 2024, the city put out an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the parking lot, which is roughly 32,000 square feet.

The lot is considered ‘Municipal Lot 15’ and is located on Pelissier Street between Wyandotte Street West and Elliott Street.

Dilkens says the city will continue to focus on the Housing Solutions Made for Windsor strategy.

“We’ve got additional properties we’re going to add to the list as well and move forward and let the public know where we’re going with this,” says Dilkens.

He says the goal of the housing solutions strategy is to look at city-owned municipal property that can be repurposed for housing.

“We saw Caron Avenue already announced with Mr. Farhi’s building, spending $300 million and building 200-plus units on that particular site,” he says. “He’s at the short strokes of getting his required record of site condition from the province, then we’ll move forward with Pelissier, and there are others stacked in the queue as well, and we’re just going to keep moving forward with the plan that was approved by city council.”

The city accepted proposals from early November 2024 to the end of January 2025 for the Pelissier Street parking lot.

At that time, the city said, “The site invites developers to envision a dynamic space that could blend residential units with lively ground-floor commercial spaces, further enhancing Windsor’s downtown area.”

Wednesday’s announcement will take place at the parking lot at 10 a.m.

Mayor Dilkens will be on hand along with Ward 3 City Councillor Renaldo Agostino, city staff, and the 531 Pelisser Group, which consists of BK Cornerstone Design Build, Philip Fernandes Designs, and Realty ONE Group Iconic.