Home Hardware discovers new kind of Main Street

Chuck Howitt / The Record

(Photo?) Sawing wood (as opposed to cutting ribbon) outside a new Home Hardware store at Williamsburg Town Centre are (from left) Home Hardware president Paul Straus, founder Walter Hachborn and store co-owner Bryan Gerber.

Throw in a single row of angled parking in front of the shops, colourful awnings over the stores and some decorative brick on the sidewalks.

Sound like an appealing antidote to the football-field-sized parking lots, giant box stores and sprawling malls seen at most suburban commercial development?

It's enough to make Jane Jacobs smile in her grave.

Only days after the death of the visionary urban critic who espoused pedestrian-focused city planning, a Kitchener-based developer unveiled the latest piece in an unusual commercial project.

RBJ Schlegel Holdings Inc. is developing the Williamsburg Town Centre in the southwest part of the city with a distinctly retro-feel, something that hearkens back to the 1930s and 1940s before the automobile dominated most commercial design.

Yesterday, the latest piece of the puzzle was put in place with the "official" opening of Williamsburg Home Hardware, a relatively compact store at 15,000 square feet, tastefully built of red and yellow brick with red and blue awnings on the outside.

A gaggle of local politicians, on hand to mark the occasion, were falling all over themselves to congratulate Schlegel and Home Hardware officials on the unique design of the town centre.

"A visionary concept providing great service to the community," said Coun. Mike Galloway.

"You've set the bar that much higher in terms of new development in the city," added Mayor Carl Zehr.

"Thank you for bringing small town to larger communities," said Regional Chair Ken Seiling.

Ron Schlegel, chair of RBJ Schlegel, told the gathering that when the company went looking for tenants for the town centre, Home Hardware was a natural candidate because of its tradition of operating smaller, more intimate dealer-owned stores.

Some years ago, Schlegel had an offer from Loblaw to build on the site, but did not want a huge grocery store dominating the landscape, he said.

As it is, a smaller Sobeys, of about 45,000 square feet, sits at the north end of the town centre.

Schlegel said when he met with Walter Hachborn, president and founder of Home Hardware, about moving to the town centre, "it took him a little less than a second, maybe a nanosecond, to make a decision."

The store is not a new operation. It was moved from the Forest Hill shopping centre where it operated for more than 41 years.

It has been open since December and is being run by co-owner and manager Bryan Gerber. Prior to yesterday's opening, about 30 to 40 customers lined up to get first shot at the special sales being offered.

The Schlegel Group began in 1967 as a builder of long-term care and retirement facilities. It subsequently expanded into real estate and land development.

The Williamsburg Town Centre, at Fischer-Hallman Road and Max Becker Drive, is Schlegel's first development in this neo-traditional design. It has been planned for more than a decade with officials visiting similar projects in Canada and the U.S. for ideas.

It's still a work in progress with only about one-third of the retail space developed now, said Vaughan Bender, vice-president of real estate and land development for Schlegel.

Spreading out a map of the town centre at the speaker's podium, he talks enthusiastically about what the project will become when it finally takes shape.

The centrepiece will be the main street. The new Home Hardware will be on the east side, joined by a smaller building and the Sobey's at north end. Still to be erected on the west side are three low-rise commercial buildings, featuring stores on the main floor and offices and apartments above.

Behind them will be an urban park called Williamsburg Commons, framed by three apartment buildings and five multi-residential villas. And behind the park is a large residential subdivision called Williamsburg Estates which will feed shoppers and residents into the town centre.

Roundabouts at each end will send traffic onto the main street. At the south end, a low-rise commercial building already houses small tenants such as dental and veterinary clinics, a law office, a hearing clinic and pizza and sub shops.

The town centre includes one large parking lot in front of the Sobey's and fronting on Fischer-Hallman Road. Bender conceded that the automobile still must be accommodated in any commercial development.

chowitt@therecord.com