Welland developers: a rant
I just need to rant for a minute.
Was visiting some family in Welland and saw the latest iteration of this non-stop reno on the street. It has gone through a few ‘interesting’ stages over the last few years, but for some reason it finally broke me. The before is from Google maps, the after is from the company’s page.
Growing up, I thought this house was kind of cool and grand looking. I realize it wasn’t necessarily an architectural masterpiece, but it had character (unique roofline, big stone steps and porch, interesting landscaping etc.). Then it was renovated into this… box with tree.
It feels representative of the direction of Welland development in general. I have absolutely nothing against development or updating old houses. Welland is growing and people need places to live. What I don’t understand though, is why every local developer seems to believe “modernizing” means removing every distinctive feature and replacing it with these building blobs.
Maybe I’m teetering into “old man yells at cloud” territory now, but I just miss when neighbourhoods were allowed to have personalities and was hoping to commiserate.